An Interlude on the Road Home

Just as Ogesha had predicted, Lux, Garen, and Tiana had spent a small, intimate New Year together in Silvermine City.

However, unlike Lux, who had plenty of free time, Garen and Tiana usually had to stay at the military camp. They could only return to Silvermine City when the New Year came. During winter, the northern border was placed under lockdown, since the Freljordians to the north often came south to raid when hunger drove them to it.

Though the towering Dragon Ridge Mountains were incredibly difficult to cross, and perhaps half of any raiding party would die on the way over, the Freljordians still kept coming, with no food to sustain them.

Some tribes would also take advantage of the frozen sea to the west, going around the mountains and entering Demacian territory.

So, to guard against these southerly barbarians, Demacia's army usually gathered at the northern border in winter and stood on alert. Though Garen and Tiana were members of the Crown Guard family, they still had a hard time of it.

With nothing to do, Lux began planning a more detailed survey of the area around Silvermine City, with a little "encouragement" from Karya.

Though her habit of wandering around was somewhat dangerous, Lux had made an astonishing impression with that sword strike against Codora. On top of that, the nobles of Silvermine City were now so on edge that they wouldn't even hold a single banquet, leaving Lux terribly bored. In the end, they had no choice but to let her roam around as she pleased.

Lux once again dressed herself as a hunter's daughter and tried to retrace her earlier steps. But neither she nor Karya had dreamed that, in just a dozen days, word of her great deeds had spread throughout Silvermine City on countless tongues.

Demacians were suckers for heroism, and Lux's performance in front of so many nobles had been nothing short of astonishing. More importantly, to the common folk, the little princess of the Crown Guard family had opened up four precious knight positions and personally held interviews, putting her extensive knowledge of agriculture to use.

It was also the off-season for farming, and the common folk had little to entertain themselves with. So they took it upon themselves to spin Lux's story into countless different versions.

Even the taverns in the inner city had troubadours composing songs about her.

Good grief. Lux was absolutely floored!

In this situation, even with a flawless disguise, Lux still drew an unreasonable amount of attention whenever she appeared as a country girl.

Or rather, any country girl walking through Silvermine City's fields with a grown man by her side was bound to attract stares.

At first, Lux didn't think much of it.

All she had to do was say she wasn't Lux, right? The curious commoners... had never even seen her, after all.

But even when she denied who she was, the commoners she spoke with never stopped talking about "Miss Luxanna."

And because the stories had spread so widely and been twisted so much, Lux had to put on a curious expression and listen to tales that had passed through who knew how many hands and had become completely unrecognizable.

I'm pretending to be someone else, listening to people tell me stories about... me!

The worst part was that after sharing one ridiculous tale after another, they would praise Lux with their limited vocabularies, saying things like, "That girl's a good egg," or "Luxanna's the real deal." The distinctive warmth and humor of the northern dialect always left Lux gaping in astonishment.

If she still wanted to maintain her disguise under these circumstances... it would be a serious test of her acting skills. She even thought listening to this stuff was harder than facing those nobles at a banquet without Karya's help.

In the end, Lux reluctantly gave up on continuing her investigation.

Forget it. I'll go somewhere else next time I get the chance. I'm tired. Let's go home. Right now.

She was twelve now, and had proved she could stand on her own. Sooner or later, she'd have a chance to leave Demacia City.

After the New Year, before the snow had even melted in Silvermine City, Lux had to set out on the road back to Demacia City.

But before she left, there was one last thing she had to figure out.

What souvenirs to bring home.

Lux felt that the most important thing she had gained from this trip was seeing the conflicts hidden beneath the peaceful surface. But from a noble's perspective, the most important thing was that she'd handled things on her own for the first time and fulfilled her family's expectations.

Under the circumstances, her souvenirs had taken on a certain "trophy" quality.

She had to choose carefully.

But Lux wasn't very good at that.

And choosing gifts was one of Karya's few blind spots. When Lux realized even the all-knowing Karya needed an update, she could only turn to her guards for help.

Fortunately, after spending so much time together—and making so many undercover visits—the guards weren't too stiff around Lux anymore. Though they all exchanged uncertain glances when their young lady asked for help, they eventually came up with a collection of bizarre suggestions after Lux urged them on.

Their ideas ranged from crafts and local delicacies to hand-painted landscapes and new songs by troubadours. Lux was left dumbfounded.

Crafts seemed a little cheap.

Local food wouldn't survive the trip home.

The troubadours' songs were all about her, which was too embarrassing.

After thinking it over, a landscape painting of Silvermine City actually seemed like a pretty good idea.

With Karya's help, making a printer wouldn't take too much effort anyway.

Lux gave the guard who'd suggested it a thumbs-up, took her sketchbook, and ran all over Silvermine City. Soon she had a whole stack of sketches ready. They were all famous sights in the city, all drawn by her own hand—perfect gifts.

As for Ogesha, she had said before Lux left for Silvermine City that she wanted Lux to bring back a Northern Wind Flute.

Mom's gift was taken care of!

Now all that was left was Sona's!

Lux had considered bringing back a Northern Wind Flute for her, too. But then she remembered that Sona was in the Illuminators' choir, where they had all sorts of instruments and even master instrument-makers. In the end, she had to abandon the idea.

What should she get her?

One of the guards had a suggestion.

"How about a Northern Warhorse?"

A Northern Warhorse?

That suggestion took Lux by surprise.

"How'd you think of that?"

"I've seen Mr. Dili's white horse—it's so magnificent. You hardly ever see one like it in Demacia City." The guard was completely honest. "So I figured the northern warhorses must be pretty famous..."

"Mr. Dili paid a fortune for that horse," Lux said, shaking her head. "Northern Warhorses are famous, but ones of that quality are rare!"

"But I remember seeing a similar one in Velos," the guard said, recalling the past. "Another beautiful white horse. A painter was riding it at the time... Come to think of it, he was staying next door to our inn, too. A pretty handsome young fellow, and he could play the harp..."

???

Next door?

Played the harp?

A painter?

The three clues made Lux and Karya think at nearly the same time of the annoying fly who'd been in Demacia City and had ultimately been driven off by Kahina.

Lux kept her expression neutral and casually asked what the young man looked like.

According to the guard's description, apart from the age, he was exactly like Dili.

Realizing there might be something to it, Lux started asking about Dili's family.

That was how she learned about Gao Kan, another "promising young man" from Silvermine City. But Lux had never seen him there, not once.

Lux had already been suspicious of Dili. Now, with the mystery of the white horse thrown into the mix, she couldn't help wanting to get to the bottom of it!

Could it be that Dili had realized she wasn't staying at the inn to recover, then decided to seek her out?

Unfortunately, by then Tiana had already assigned Dili a new task, and his family had left Silvermine City. The trail went cold.

With nothing to show for it, Lux climbed into the carriage home, feeling a little helpless.

As for Sona's gift...

With Karya's help, Lux ultimately decided to cook something herself and learned how to make an Ionian Traditional Pastry.

The flavor might not be quite right because of the ingredients, but... she hoped Sona would like it!

Once everything was taken care of, Lux and Kuren set off together on the road back to Demacia City.