Secret Garden

Of course, the sorcerers and elves who fled from persecution thousands of years ago could hardly have foreseen that their descendants, obeying the laws they created, would live in isolation for almost five thousand years and turn their genotype into garbage, thanks to multiple incest due to thousands of years of isolation due to whom all those living in the Secret Garden literally became each other's relatives, close or distant.

Because of this, almost ninety percent of the population lost their magic powers completely, another eight percent could barely use primitive first-level magic, and only the elite - the remaining two percent, retained their former power.

The giftedness of these elite families was not luck at all, just half a thousand years ago they unraveled the reason for the loss of magical powers and were able to select the most distant relatives with incredible efforts, avoiding their degeneration.

And, naturally, these two percent became proud because of their strength, they called themselves the elite and, having organized a board of directors, finally became conceited.

Unlike ordinary residents, they did not believe at all, and even more so did not revere some ancient elves, considering themselves no less powerful, in which case referring to the fact that in legends the power of true ancestors was greatly exaggerated for the sake of a red word.

Naturally, the common people, who did not suffer from maximalism and egocentrism, still continued to revere their distant ancestors, which infuriated the elites, who were so eager for universal admiration.

Of course, in any environment, even the most vile and fetid, you can find at least one flower, beautiful and fragrant. And among the egocentrics arrogant from power and strength, Asiya was such a flower. A young girl of twenty-eight, who was considered very young by elven standards.

Asia was the strongest forest dweller and possessed incomparable and unique plant magic, she came from a single family that never mixed its blood with a relative. Because of what, this young and beautiful girl has not yet had a single spouse, with all that army of fans curled around.

Of course, the whole point was that they were all trite already her distant or close relatives. There were simply no men left in the Secret Garden who did not yet belong in one way or another to her pedigree.

The matter was also complicated by the fact that in a dying nation, girls were born sterile, and boys often became impotent even before puberty.

Asia was well aware of the gravity of the situation and therefore tried to bring her people out of isolation, first of all by establishing contact with a nearby city, namely the city state of Tai-Lon.

Needless to say, the elites, who were afraid of losing their power, were against it, they did not care about the future of the people, the main thing was to maintain power for at least another couple of hundred years.

But Asia, supported by her grandfather, the second most powerful magician after her, did not give a damn about the advice, nevertheless made contact with the Tai-Lon government, and everything went quite well.

Moreover, she even entered into several trade agreements and took a job protecting large caravans from robbers, who often became no less a problem than worms for caravaners coming from Hordnock.

The people who loved Asia before, after receiving all those goods and services with which they were deprived due to isolation, began to call her their princess, which bravely fights for their bright future.

The elites were furious, their already unpopular figures faded into the background, and their inability to procreate, which was even more acute than Asia's, only added fuel to the fire.

Unlike the kind of girl, the rest of the elites have already neglected blood relationship more than once, just trying to find a stronger partner for their children, and now they were facing the brink, there was simply no one to marry children without losing the strength of the offspring. The only choice for the boys was Asia herself, whose untainted genes could endure a few more generations of incest before becoming just as trash.

But Asia and her family, represented by her grandfather and grandmother, who, by the way, ranked second and third in terms of the power of magic, were against these perversions.

Many of the council even waited for the death of these two, in order to then force Asia to sleep with their children.

"We can handle one girl with a crowd," they thought.

Naturally, having received not only wrinkles, but also wisdom over many years of their lives, Asia's relatives, namely, grandfather and grandmother, saw through all the dirty plans of these mentally retarded egoists obsessed with power, and wanted their granddaughter to stay with people and find a good husband there. Let not an elf, most importantly, a strong sorcerer.

But Asia was stubborn and wanted to save her people, she had little faith that someone could make her his own by force.

* * *

Lucas, leading his guests of honor to the Secret Garden, out of his stupidity and ignorance of an ordinary inhabitant, decided the place to bring these superiors directly to the village, take them straight to the council tower by a roundabout way.

He believed that the educated and magic-savvy elites would be able to understand the language of these gentlemen and, unlike ordinary citizens, would not make mistakes that could cause the wrath of these greats.

And perhaps if Asia, having completed the task of protecting the caravan, had not been in such a hurry to report it to Tai-Lon, and would have left a little later, and her grandfather and his wife would not have gone on a big hunt, then perhaps everything would have been the same as thought Lucas, but unfortunately fate decreed otherwise.