Loire is a quiet little town filled with art, wine, and food. It seems like a lovely place to say, but from talking to the citizens it's not quite the cozy little hollow. They complain about their King who takes all their money. The town drunk Louis mumbles something about a ProtectBell and the King killing a village. Other citizens mention the Norfest Forest up north is full of ghosts. Simone is worried because White Wind, the take- from- the- rich- and- give- to- the- poor thief, has been rumored to be captured by the King and is rotting in his dungeon. Overall, Loire's residents are not too happy with their current ruler.
Go to the Inn and you'll meet Bounty. He gives you food and wine and even has a dancer come out and perform for you. Then he tries to charge you 100000 gems! When you refuse to pay for a service you didn't even request, he mentions that he may have to put you to work at the labor camps in order to pay off your debt to him. Then a soldier shows up at the Inn and confronts Bounty. Lady Fyda has warned Bounty about pulling scams like this one, and Bounty admits that he was actually going to give this to you for free and you could even stay the night too for free.How nice of Bounty to change his mind. Fyda also mentions to you that if you want to be a candidate for the princess' groom to meet at the Castle tomorrow morning. Stay at the Inn for the night.
When you awake in the morning and begin to leave the Inn, a new person will be at Bounty's. He is a chemist who has been searching for a special type of mushroom that he needs to make his sleeping potion. Leave Loire and go to the castle. Walk down the long corridor and enter the first floor. From here you can go to the west wing which leads to the Guard's Chamber. One of them brags that he was the one who captured White Wind sneaking into the King's bedroom. White Wind is downstairs in the dungeon and you can talk to him if you like. From the first floor you can also go to the east side of the Castle, which houses the kitchen area. You eavesdrop on the kitchen help mentioning that the King is just using the princess for something. If you go into the pantry of the kitchen you'll find a MagiRock.
The main doorway on the first floor leads to the King and Princess' bedrooms and the library. You can read the books that are on the bookcases in the library. The records say that the King was having a difficult time reaching the village of Storkolm, which is hidden in the Norfest Forest. Someone gave him the ProtectBell, which allowed him to get to Storkolm and grab the treasure from the village. But when he arrived and couldn't find the treasure that he was looking for, he destroyed Storkolm and killed all of it's residents. He then adopted the Mayor's daughter as his princess.
Go up the staircase from the first floor. Once you reach the second floor, enter the room that has the doorway guarded by two Castle Guards. A third guard will be in this room. He will ask you if you are here for the groom candidates. Tell him yes and he'll direct you to the right room to wait until you're called. When entering the right room, you'll notice that there are already some people here. Talk to the guy in the blue outfit. He'll tell you that you don't have what it takes to be the princess' groom! Man, this guy has a big ego. He introduces himself as Royd, and he's only here because he wants the princess' money. The guard will return back into the room and request that the guy with the "gold pointy hair" go meet with the King.
Go talk to the Butler (the white bearded guy in front of the King) and he'll say that you need to talk to King Henry the 13th and the Princess. After talking to the King, go talk to the Princess. She looks just like Crysta's Elle! The Princess' hair is brown instead of green, but the resemblance is so close and her name happens to be Elle too! This is just too weird. Princess Elle refuses to speak though, and turns her head away from you. The Butler then explains the rules for groom ship. The Princess is suffering from an ailment that has made her mute. The first man who can bring a cure to heal the Princess gets to marry her. Ark is sent on his way with orders to report back to the King when he finds any information that could be helpful.
Leave the Castle and head north. Cross the river and you should see a small house to the northeast. Molly lives there, and he says that there are mushrooms that grow in the forest to the east that are used for medical purposes.
Return to the Castle and go to the kitchen. Equip the SleepPotion as an item and pour it into the pot that is bubbling on the stove. The kitchen help will then tell you that dinner is ready and to please leave. You'll end up back outside, so reenter the castle. Everyone's asleep! Head back toward the dungeon and talk to White Wind. He'll request that you set him free. Go to the guard next to his jail cell and take the JailKey from him. Equip it as an item and then unlock White Wind's jail door. He will thank you and let you know that in the King's bedroom there is a secret passageway to his treasure.
Head to the middle doorway on the first floor, climb up the stairway, and then exit to one of the passageways to the left or the right. Climb up the stairs and head toward the King's bedroom. You'll accidentally bump into Princess Elle, who is wide awake. She looks at you, turns around, and then leaves the room. Yomi pops out and laughs at Ark because the Princess doesn't like him. Ark tells him to shut up and Yomi pops back into the box.
Head north through the next doorway and you can push the sleeping guard out of your way. There are two doorways in this area. The left door takes you to Princess Elle's room (which has nothing of significance in it), and the right door takes you to the King's bedroom. Go into the King's room and in the upper right corner there will be a gold statue. Push the statue out of the way and you'll uncover a crawl way. Crawl through the gap and then head up the stairs. At the top floor you'll find a MagiRock and the ProtectBell. Exit out of the Castle. Walk northward again, cross the river, and this time head in the eastern direction. You'll come across Norfest Forest.
Return to the Castle and head back to the King's Chamber. Right before you enter to talk to King Henry, MeiLin will stop you and ask for the Portrait so she can remember what the Princess' mom and dad look like.
You are all back in the King's Chamber again. The Princess begins to speak! Fyda asks Elle if she's all right, and the King becomes incredibly nervous. He tells you that the Princess is not well and to wait at the Inn until you're notified. He then orders his guards to throw you out of the Chamber! MeiLin meets you in the waiting area and is pleased that they got the Princess to talk again, but she is suspicious of the King. The two of you go to the Inn to stay the night.
Ark has a dream about the Elder of Crysta. He tells Ark that the world of humans is still young, and they need incredible thinkers called "genius'" to motivate the world and expand the human race. Elder says that there is a genius to the south that needs his help.
Ark wakes up and begins to leave the Inn, but the innkeeper stops him. She warns him to be careful because King Henry died mysteriously during the night. Go outside to the fountain in the middle of Loire and there are some people gathered there. Jean is there explaining that since they don't have a king anymore, he would like to be the representative for the town. Louis pops up and says that he would like to become a candidate as well. They decide to take a break before everyone casts their votes. Go talk to Keinz and he'll say that if the conservative Louis wins Loire will never change, but if the pro activist Jean wins great things will come to Loire.
To start the voting up you have to enter/exit a building and walk back to the fountain. There will be a line of people casting their ballots. Stand in line until it is your turn and pick Jean as the leader. Then go back to the group of people and Jean will announce there will be another break while they count the votes. Enter/exit a house again and then go back to talk to Jean. Jean will announce that Louis received 24 votes and he received 25 votes, so he is the new representative. He asks Louis if he would like to join him on this job and Louis agrees. Looks like it's time to move on to the south since everything is fine in Loire now.