“We are here.” Desaray let Lily down, walked over to her normal spot, and sat down. “This place will help calm your mind and put you at ease.”

“This place is beautiful.” Ricky had to admit seeing the glowing pound and the lights floating up off it, along with the strange feeling of relaxation, made him calm down quite a bit.

“This is a special spot that I discovered a while ago. I come here when I need a break from it all.” Desaray leaned back and looked up at the sky. “As you saw, I put up an ice wall to protect this place. I do not wish for this place to be ruined. Eventually, the kingdom will expand to this point, and it will be put under protection, but for now, I can only do this much.”

“It is indeed a place worth protecting,” Ricky admitted. He walked over and began playing with Lily at the side of the pond. 

Desaray was happy to see that her father had accepted Lily so quickly he did not seem to mind the fact that she was an orphan. She looked up at the sky and let out a breath of air. She hoped days like this could continue. No, she would strive for it even if it meant going to war with the world. 

“I think I understand why you think the way you do. You have found something you wish to protect. It’s like me as I watched you grow up. I would have done anything if it meant protecting you. I do not know how long I will live for now, but this much I do know. I will help you protect what you wish to protect. I will make sure our family can continue living peacefully, even if it means dirtying my hands. 

“In the tower, we only fought monsters. Each floor was a new trial. We worked hard and ended up passing the trial. But it was only out of sheer luck. We did not have the proper means to make the right calls all the time. That is how I lost my arm….” Ricky looked at his arm and sighed. 

“You will slowly learn. You did enough to keep yourself and the others alive. I think you did a very good job. As your daughter I am proud and happy to know my dad was able to return to my side.”  Desaray sat up and smiled as she looked at the man in front of her. She knew there would be no man who could ever meet her standards in this lifetime since they had to at least hold a candle to her own father first. But she also did not care too much about getting married. Nor did she care about love at this time. She had enough on her shoulders to care about than these things that did not matter at this time.

Ricky scratched his head as he let out a sigh. “You know Becky confessed to me.” He did not plan to tell her, but he figured he should.

“I figured as much. That girl has been in love with you since she was young. But I know you rejected her. Becky is a good girl, but I do not wish to call her mom.” Desaray said with a chuckle.

    “I never had any plans to take a wife anyway. I have been satisfied with just having you. Although now I also have a cute granddaughter.” Ricky gently rubbed the top of Lily’s head, causing her to smile.

    “Hehe… Grandpapa… Tell me about Mama when she was young.” Lily was very interested in her mother’s past. Desaray did not stop him. Since her daughter wanted to know, she would not hide anything, even if it was embarrassing. 

“Desa….” As Ricky and Lily talked, a root appeared on Desaray’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong, Juna?” Desaray knew Juna would not disturb her unless it was important. So she knew something was up.

    “The continent to the west seems to have some kind of strange barrier around it. It encompasses the entire landmass, even underground. My roots can not get past it. But from what I can tell, there seem to be some powerful forces locked within it. My roots can only get on the edge of the land at the shore and no further than that.”  Juna replied.

“Okay… keep a few roots there to investigate. Report anything out of the ordinary. If someone tries to break the barrier, teleport them to the prison forcefully. If the continent is sealed it must be for a good reason. We need to be careful.” Desaray hated the idea of more trouble, but there was nothing she could do about it. She just hoped that what ever was locked inside the barrier did not break its way out. She knew many seals had been broken in the past few mergers, especially the demon queens. Seals. But it seemed that this continent came fully intact. 

She did not know what powers were at work, but to build a barrier around an entire continent and be strong enough to block Juna’s roots meant that the barrier was put in place by a powerful race for good reason. If the barrier was blocking something powerful inside, then what about the people outside? How strong were they? 

“Try to send some roots to the other newly formed continent as well. Let’s see if they are connected somehow.”