1 Chapter 1: In an Old Castle ----- A girl in pink dress is angry when you ask her name. What? Why?

Six-years-war has ended, by the strength of only one man.

Everyone calls him "Swordmaster".

Unfortunately, this is not the story of such time of glory, bloodshed and mass murder.

This is the story of a more peaceful time that comes after it.

Almost two years have passed since the end of the war.

Most people still remember the atrocity of the great struggle.

But strangely, almost everyone has forgotten who Swordmaster is, or what he did to this land.

As if memory about him has been magically erased from this world.

Chapter 1: In an Old Castle

[Lord's bedroom]

Yellow girl: Violet, bring Peony here. Our lord is awake. She must be very happy to know this.

Very soon several girls fill up the room. One is a yellow-haired girl with white-yellow dress and a big sunflower on her head. Another one wears princess-like pink dress, with blonde wavy hair and a lot of peony flowers on the back side of her head where her ponytail could have been.

Lord, talking to the pink girl: Who are you?

The pink girl turns her face away angrily.

Lord: What?!

Lord, talking to the yellow girl: What is this place? Where am I?

Yellow girl: What? My lord, are you telling me you don't remember us?

Purple girl: This is not your joke again right? You always make grim joke like this.

Lord: Oh really, did I?

Yellow girl : I think it could be real. He even said before his long slumber that he might not remember us when he woke up. Weren't you also there when he said it?

Purple girl: Oh I start to remember now. Forgive me. It has been one full year. By the way, my name is Violet, my lord.

Lord: One year? I was sleeping for that long? Tell me everything else I need to know. I don't remember a thing.

Yellow girl: My name is Sola. I am one of the maidens born to serve you. My body and soul belong to you alone. You are a king of this castle and the creator of all of us. We are born from flowers and are bound to serve you by yggdrasil's blessing, which is a magic from the yggdrasil tree that give birth to all of us maidens.

Sola: You should ask Peony, she is the first-born and the eldest maiden. Eh? where is she?

Grey-haired girl: She is gone, Sola. She seemed to be angry about something.

Violet: I'm not sure why she is not here, my lord. I often see her fell asleep on your bedside while you were sleeping. You can surely talk to her later.

Sola: Anyway, it seems you are still drowsy. You can take a nap, my lord. We won't bother you anymore. But this time please don't sleep for too long. [giggle]

[Peony's room]

Peony with a little tear in her eyes, hugging a goat doll and mumbling to herself.

Peony: Why can't you remember me and our beautiful time in the past? Everything I did, I did it for you. I have been waiting for your compliment for so long, but no, when you wake up, you....[crying...]

Violet, knocking on the door and shouts pass it: Peony, we are going to hunt some hog in the forest for our lord, will you go with us?

Peony: No, have fun for me.

Peony continues to cry.

[Lord's room]

Sola: Oh! you wake up so soon, unlike last time [giggle] We are preparing some human food for you.

Violet: We are going hog hunting. You used to love roasted hog, right?

Lord: Hmm...is it dangerous out there? May I go too?

Sola: Now it's not as dangerous as it used to be, especially not with the whole lot of us around you.

Violet: Let go with us and become familiar with the surrounding, my lord. This is your castle after all.

[On the path to the forest]

Violet: Hello, my lord. I am one of the maiden born to serve you. My body and soul belong to you alone. My name is Violet, my lord.

Sola: You already told him your name once earlier.

Violet: [giggle] Now he can't forget me, Sola.

Sola: This time we get a lancer in the party specially for your safety, my lord. Mythril is a good scout and quite good at fighting. However, she is not as good as me at fighting, my lord.

Lord thinks: [You are not very humble, are you?]

Primrose: My name is Primrose, my lord. This is the first time we talked. I was born after you have begun your slumber.

Primrose, as her name implies, looks like she was born from an orange-colored primrose. She is quite pretty with about 10 flowers hanging from her hair, but that is what can generally be said about most maidens I have met so far ----- adorable look and having some kind of flowers hanging from their hair or head, as can be expected of any living creatures that were born from flowers.

Lord: What was that thing? That small tree is walking.

Another purple girl: If it is a walking plant and is not a maiden, we call it trent, my lord.

Violet: This is my twin sister Purple, who is coming with us too, my lord.

Purple: We used to call them treant but that's definitely too much trouble to spell it.

Sola: There is quite an army of them under Peony's control. Most trents are friendly to the maiden and to you because, like us, they are also bound to serve you by yggdrasil's blessing.

Without notice, a stern-looking girl with several dark blue petals on her head appears to walk alongside you. It looks like she was born from some kind of plant with dark blue flowers.

Sola: Oh, here you are, Mythril. See anything?

Mythril: Just the usual stuff, hog, deer, trent, nothing dangerous, if that's what you mean.

After Mythril finishes her line, she silently jumps onto the top of the highest tree in one move.

Lord: Oh don't tell me her weapon of choice is a lance.

Sola: How do you know, my lord?

Lord: High jump, using lance. She looks like a dragoon from a game called Fina...oh wait, let forget about it.

Sola: I'm not sure what you mean, my lord.

Lord: Never mind.

Sola: She can also use bow, my lord. Other maidens can't jump as high as her, by the way.

Violet: Look. There is a clearing over there. Let set up a campfire while our archer Primrose is hunting hogs for us.

[Campfire]

Violet: My lord, are you thinking about something? The campfire is ready.

Violet has shoulder-length purple hair and wears light purple dress with a bunch of flower trails hanging from the front near one side of her ear, with a lot of flowers on the back side of her head too.

Violet: We used to look much more similar. Then purple decided to cut her hair short and hide her whole bunch of things, whatever they are called.

Lord: What things?

The lord glances briefly at the radiant white skin around the center part of Purple's body.

Purple: Inflorescence, my lord.

Lord thinks: [Hey! Why didn't you just say flowers?]

Sola: I know what you were thinking, my lord.

Lord: I wasn't thinking anything!

Violet: Eh? What are you two talking about?

Sola: Oh, Primrose is back.

Lord: She is quite good at this. It is not even 15 minutes and she is back with 4 small-sized hogs, dragging them here all by herself.

Violet: You won't be surprised if you have seen how fast she can shoot arrows from her bow.

Sola: Nice. Thank you, Primrose. Let me roast all these hogs. Burn!

Lord: uhh.. What did you use to start the fire with?

Sola, with intense light emitting from her hand: Magic, my lord. Oh, I forgot you have lost all your memory. As a sunflower, all my ability relates to sunlight and its intense heat.

Lord: Wait! What was that noise? Behind you, Sola.

An angry giant hog is rushing towards where they all sit. It makes sense because Primrose might have just killed their whole family.

Sola, continuing to explain about her ability: The light I create can also blind opponent for a while and I...

Primrose skillfully shoots about 10 arrows at the hog's forehead in literally one second.

Lord thinks: [It's still running. Perhaps the arrows can't pierce its thick skull?]

Lord: Hey, Sola, could you help Primrose deal with that hog, and violet, hide behind my back.

Violet: Why? It's just a hog.

Purple, while eating leisurely: This piece is too burnt, Sola.

The hog almost reaches Sola's back when it falls down into a deep hole on the ground.

Primrose jumps down the deep hole and shoot several arrows rapidly at point blank range at the back of its neck, making sure it is dead.

Lord: Huh? Oh, well, when did you girls dig that giant pit trap.

Sola: It's one of Primrose's skill, my lord.

Lord: Yeah, it's my fault worrying about these girls. They are much stronger than they look, and I shouldn't try to find any reason in the world full of talking plants....mumble....mumble.....

Violet: Lucky, right? A big hog run to be our meal on its own.

Lord: Eh? I totally forgot about Mythril, why didn't she warn us of this dangerous hog.

Sola: It is possible that she didn't see it as a threat, but I bet she has fallen asleep on treetops again.

Lord: Uh....why did you bring her as a guard then...mumble...mumble...

[A long while later]

Violet: Are you full, my lord? It is delicious, right?

Sola: It's almost dark now. We can sleep in the forest to night, my lord, if you want.

Lord: ....

Violet: What are you thinking, my lord.

Lord: About those hog's baby....

Sola: Why are you so sad about it? Isn't human an omnivore?

Lord: Yes, human is omnivore, but...

Sola: It's already dead and we can't change that.

Purple: We maidens eat for pleasure, my lord. We can live on photosynthesis alone. Then, no more hog hunt if you don't like it.

Lord: Well, let me eat all of these up first, then I will think about that later.

Sola: Yes, let's not waste their precious meat.

Lord: I don't remember the time before my slumber at all. How was myself back then?

Sola: Hmm. You should ask Peony or Petunia, they are among the first-born maidens. I was born only 2 months before you fell into the slumber. As far as I remember, your old personality was similar to what you are now and back then you were pretty good at sword. You can even teach Peony how to use it. She is even better at fighting than me right now.

Lord think: [Oh, she doesn't like bragging. She just love telling the truth]

Sola: She was practicing sword fighting a lot while you were sleeping, but most importantly, I think she has a talent for it.

Lord: That's a surprise, wearing pink fluffy dress like that.

Sola: By the way, our dress are, more or less, a part of our body. If you look carefully it's our petal, my lord. We can't change its design even if we want to. If it is torn, we can regrow them back with some effort. I haven't tried but I think growing back the whole dress should take a lot of effort. If it is removed from us for too long, it will start withering.

Lord: Hmm, interesting.

Sola: Here, try touching my skirt, it feels like flower petals, right? Because it is.

Blue girl: Tsk, touch this...touch that... which body part of yours do you want him to touch next, huh?

Another maiden with a blue theme walks in. She sports double pigtails in the front, with a cute blue flower at the end of each tail. Her hair is black with blue sheen. She also has a big bunch of blue flowers where her ponytail should have been.

Sola: I'm not surprised you found us, Iris. Many maidens can feel presence of other maidens. It's like our souls are linked, and this one is more nosy than the others.

Iris: Hey...hey, better say I am more perceptive, all right? I am pretty agile and good at dancing too.

Sola: Yes, she is.

Iris: Such a compliment. Let me hug you as my thanks.

Sola: Stop.

Iris: My lord, do you want to join us?

Sola: No, my lord, don't leave me. I am being physically harassed. Help.

The lord walks away.

[Still near the campfire]

Lord: I'd better go walking to digest the food.

Lord: Oh, that's Primrose.

Primrose is sitting alone very far away from the others. Her bright shade of orange flowers look almost like they can glow in the dark.

After unintentionally staring at her beautiful dress for a few seconds, the lord starts the conversation.

Lord: Hello, Prim...

Suddenly her dress was dropped from her body onto the ground.

Primrose: Do you want my body, my lord?

Lord: Uh.... I...

Primrose: It's OK, my lord. There are a lot of other beautiful maidens in this castle.

Primrose puts on her dress and walk towards the campfire.

Lord: Wait, wait, wait. NOOO, I haven't said no. Stop!...Stop right now.

Lord: How come did she walk away so fast?

Lord: Did you girls see Primrose walking by this way?

Iris: I didn't notice. I was playing with Sola.

Sola: [pant...pant....] No, I wasn't playing with her.

Lord: Hmm. Where is she?

Lord: Purple, did you see Primrose just walk by?

Purple: No, my lord, but wait a sec.

Purple jumps up to the treetops to ask Mythril and jumps down in a few seconds.

Wait, is she a ninja or something. Although she can't jump as high as Mythril, but she can move much faster.

Purple: Useless, Mythril was sleeping on treetops again. Why did Sola choose her for a scout duty anyway?

Lord: Where is she, where is she?

The lord walks around all over the place. Half an hour has passed.

Iris: Hmm, why do you want to find her so much? Did she offer you something, my lord?

Lord: No, no. She didn't offer me anything.

Iris: Hmm.....suspicious. Anyway, it's almost our usual bedtime.

Violet: Here, I brought this special plant just for you, my lord.

Violet brings out a long, weird plump stick that looks like a big umbrella.

Violet: If you stick it on the ground like this. Voila, a small tent appears.

Violet: You can also use a part of this plant as your pillow and blanket too. Very convenient, right?

Iris: Don't worry, my lord, we plants can sleep outside, but if you want me to sleep inside with you, just say a word.

Lord: OK, I will sleep soon. Let me keep finding Primrose a bit longer.

Two hours have passed, the lord is still walking around. Everyone has turned into their flower form and are sleeping except Sola, who also seems really drowsy.

Sola: You must have really important business with her.

Sola turns into a sunflower and sleeps.

The morning come, everyone is awake.

Iris: Why are you sleeping outside the tent, my lord?

Lord: Uhh.. yes! I just want to know how it feels if I sleep like you plants.

Iris, in disbelief: Oh, is that so?

Lord: Where is Primrose?, by the way.

Iris: She said she was going back to her former duty, but if you really have to see her, I will pass on the message.

Iris is smiling as if she has figured out what happened.

[Somewhere in the castle]

Sola: How does sleeping like a plant feel like, my lord?

Lord: Hmm, not my style. I don't think I will ever do that again. By the way, I want to ask you something.

Sola: What is it, my lord?

Lord: Are you sure I'm your lord since I don't remember anything at all. I don't want to take advantage of any of you from all these services I get.

Sola: Oh, how is that possible? If you are not our lord, that means it has to be someone that looks exactly like you, talks like you, slips into this castle, somehow eliminates the real lord and sleeps in place of him. All of these have to be done without any maidens or trents in this castle knowing.

Lord: Yeah, completely make sense, Sola. You are always good at explaining things.

Sola: Furthermore, we maidens, and possibly trents too, know it in our hearts. It might be a little hard for you to believe but...

Sola drags the lord's hand to her chest.

Sola: Can you feel our connection in my heart?

Lord: Well, not really.

Sola: Hmm... the heart is located lower on the left side, about this area.

Lord, blushing: Uhh...Sola...That's....

Sola: Touch deeper into my heart, my lord. Found it, right?

Lord thinks: [Oh...so...so...so soft. Am I taking advantage of her?]

Sola: Your blood pressure and your pulse are rising. I think that means we are connected.

Lord thinks: [NOOOOO....That's because I am touching one of the softest organ of yours]

Violet: Uhh.. What are you two doing? Am I interrupting something?

Lord: No, I haven't done anything...uh....hello, Violet.

Violet, walking closer: As a maiden, my body and soul belong to you alone. Try touching my heart too.

Sola: Look. His blood pressure is rising even more. He is feeling the connection with both of us.

Lord thinks: [ARHH...These softness, these smell of flowers]

Violet has a kind of lightly sweet and mellow scent that can calm your mind, while Sola has like a scent of meadow in midday's sunlight, with a slight hint of sour lemon.

Violet: How can I physically serve you?

Sola: Stop saying that if you can't really do it.

Violet: I don't really know how, but I expect my lord could guide me through it.

Violet is blushing while pressing the lord's hand deep into her chest.

Purple, walking in: Stop touching my sister. She is not ready for whatever thought you have in mind.

The lord moves his hand away. Violet seems upset.

Violet: I'm ready, Purple.

Purple: No, you are not.

Violet: This is the most important duty of the maidens. I am willing to learn, even I know nothing about it right now.

Purple, walking in front of Violet, protecting her from the lord: No, you are too innocent.

Violet: Then how do you suggest we serve our lord?

Purple: Uh...I think....I.....

Violet: Hmm?

Purple, with a terrified voice, eyes closed in fear: My lord, take me instead. I am ready.

Lord: Uh..you don't seem to be ready either.

Lord: Calm down, girls. Duty or not duty, I don't want to force anyone into this. Everyone please forget about it for now, until you really know what it is.

Violet: My lord, you are so kind, but I am truly ready.

Purple: NO!! You are not.

[A while later]

Sola: Purple, since you are our ninja, I have an important mission for you. Go to the north where Isabelle's Windy castle is. Our trent reports discovery of several blue sunflowers in the area. Bring me back a few.

Lord thinks: [Hey, hey, there is no such thing as a blue sunflower. You made this up?]

Purple: Are you sure about this? I have never heard about it before. Why do you want it for?

Sola: First, we need a live sample of it to analyse whether this unnatural mutation has any relationship with the yggdrasil tree. If yes, then we can have a better idea of the boundary of yggdrasil's influence, and we will use this knowledge to optimize our search area for our new sisters.

Purple: But why don't you send the trent who found it, instead of me?

Sola: The trent did not know about the significance of it at that time, and you know that trents do not have much brain capacity. The trent in question has forgotten the exact location, and can remember only a rough whereabouts of the flowers.

Purple: These trents...

Sola: Not their fault. They are useful for some purposes. That's why we have you maidens.

Purple: Yes, I understand. Sorry for my complaint.

Sola: Please search through the entire northern part of our territory. This is very important mission, better not come back empty-handed. I know you are the best maiden for this task. Good luck.

Purple: Understood. I will start the journey immediately.

Lord thinks: [Oh, it's a real thing then?]

[A while later]

Sola: She is gone, right?

Violet: Yes, I said goodbye to her just a moment ago.

Sola pulls a 3-inch-long giant sunflower seed from the flower on her head and roasts it with her sun magic.

Sola: My lord, one fogblocker gone. Let celebrate.

Violet: Celebrate what, sis?, and what is a fogblocker?

Sola: It's our secret. [giggle]

Lord, while chomping on the roasted seed: It's surprisingly delicious, Sola.

Lord thinks: [You are also so good at lying, Sola, and so wicked too. Now I am not sure whether this heart touching thing is also one of your ploy to provide me with some service, and a little excitement to yourself, or you are just innocent for this specific matter, and that seed is too big to fit in your flower, then how... OK, I need to stop finding reason in a world full of talking plants.]

Sola: What are you thinking, my lord.

Lord: Umm...nothing, really. I am just enjoying the crunchy seed. How often can you produce it?

Sola: Hmm, about a seed every other day, I guess, and I can store quite a few in my flower. Tell me if you need more.

Lord: I saw you assigned a task to Purple earlier. Tell me more about hierarchy and chain of command in this castle.

Sola: [giggle] Of course, you are at the top, my lord.

Lord: I kind of know that. What about everyone else?

Sola: Peony is a chancellor, basically she is our leader in case of your absence, my lord.

Lord: Oh, the pink princess.

Sola: But sometimes I still feel that she is also the leader even when you are not absent [giggle] She also controls a bunch of various kinds of trent through her scent. Have you sniffed her at least at little?

Lord: Uh, not that I can remember.

Sola: Her scent can control people's mind, especially men and lesser trents. It is stronger than you might think, my lord. Don't sniff her when you are alone with her or you might not be able to control yourself. The scent makes you fall in love with her. It doesn't help that her appearance is also very lovable in the first place. Her scent are ineffective against me, though. She controls me by another way.

Lord: Huh?

Sola, smiling: You will know if you see her when she get mad.

Lord: .....

Sola: No, I am kidding, my lord. It's just only half-true. [giggle]

Lord: OK, I will try not to piss her then, but it might be quite difficult. When I woke up I just asked her who she was and she walked out on me.

Sola: As she is also one of the maidens, I think she is also bound by yggdrasil's magic to some extent, my lord. Deep inside, she is surely in love with you.

Lord: Oh, thank you for your....

Sola: But before you can reach her love, you might need to die first, just like some kind of male spiders.

Lord: Stop scaring me please.

Sola: Oops, sorry. I digress so far. Let get back to the chain of command thing. Yes, next to her, it's me, basically speaking. Also, due to Iris's fighting and speaking skill, she has some influence too, especially against her self-proclaimed sister Ruby. Another older maiden named Petunia, whom you haven't met, used to be involved in the majority of high level decision making, but for some reason, I think she is trying to fade herself away from everything.

Sola: There is also a maiden named Almond, who sometimes acts like an assistant to Peony, so the next one in the rank might be her. All other maidens I haven't mentioned are quite equal in this matter, I guess.

Lord: I have to learn more about all of them.

Sola: Maidens are quite free to do anything or go anywhere they want, without much repercussion from the rest. However, most maidens do their work quite diligently because we are bound by the magic to serve you, my lord.

Sola: Oh, and we maidens are above most trents, my lord. Most of us can control trents to some extent. It depends on the type and level of the trents in question too. Even for some trents that can't speak, such as white radishes, they can understand our command and carry it out quite well.

Sola: Hey, you radish over there. Go get some water for our lord.

Radish with a crude spear nods and run away.

Lord: They must be able to communicate among themselves, right?

Sola: Yes, just like birds chirping to each other. They seem to have a language of their own. None of the maidens can understand them though. All we can hear are the sound of wood cracking.

Lord: Hmm...I saw these white radishes everywhere. They are guarding the castle, right?

Sola: Yes, as a guard, they are slightly better than nothing at all. Think of it as a scout. If they spot an intruder, although they can't speak, they can use their body language to alert a maiden or other more powerful trents, very convenient.

Lord: Good boys.

Sola: I haven't found any intruders yet though. Probably because there are loads of other trents guarding the outer perimeter of the castle too. Also, these radish are very diligent workers and are excellent at performing menial tasks like cleaning.

Sola: More than 95 percent of yggdrasil seeds grow into white radishes. The more yggdrasil grows, the more number of seeds it produces, hence, the more number of these radishes. They are everywhere.