In A Noble Magic Academy, The Only Spell I Know Is Scan

Everyone looked around as the mist around them finally disappeared, bringing them back to the small cottage where Enlil was standing in front of the bowl she had used to bring them into the memories of the dead.

"Here you go." Enlil handed Roko back the journal back to Roko, "That's all the spirits wanted to show you."

"Well, they certainly showed us plenty." Helena rubbed her face, "Alright. Let's consolidate our knowledge."

"I'll make lunch in the meantime." Corissa smiled, "A real one this time."

"It's almost dinnertime." Enlil said, "And we don't have much in the kitchen right now."

"That's okay, we have our own supplies so I'll see what I can make."

"Can we get appetizers in the meantime?"

"Helena, don't you think you're asking a lot for one Corissa to do?" Kaguya sighed.

"I mean, I was just asking… If she can't it's fine..."

"It's okay." Corissa said, putting on a brave smile, "I'll see what I can do."

"Yeah, I'll help." Reaumur sighed, "I don't think I'll be able to add much to this meeting on my own anyway."

"I didn't know you could cook." Roland remarked.

"Well I do a bit of cooking for the blink dogs. Don't have a lot of practice with normal cooking so this should at least be a good learning experience."

"Uhhh...just don't feed us dog food okay?"

"Oh please, I'm sure at least one of you would enjoy it."

"Wait, which one?" Roland looked up as Reaumur followed Corissa into the kitchen, "Wait, but which one of us?!"

"Roland..." Helena sighed.

"Wait, which one of us is she talking about?!" Roland frowned.

"Does it matter?"

"It matters to me!"

"Roko? Any comment?"

"If you were truly hard boiled, you'd eat dog food if it was served to you by a woman."

"Oh, you and your taste in film noir again." Roland rolled his eyes.

"You're the one who called yourself hardboiled and brought a freaking hat!"

"What does that have to do with a woman's cooking?!"

"'A real man eats a woman's cooking, even if it's poisoned.' You're telling me that doesn't sound familiar, casanova?"

"That's just crazy!"

"You're the one acting like a film noir character!"

"Says the one saying I'm not film noir enough!"

"I at least understand it better than you!"

"That's bullshit and you know it!"

"Oh wait. Hang on." Helena cut in as she reached over and took Roland's fedora, placing it on Roko's head instead, "Okay, go on now."

Roko sighed as he pulled the brim of the fedora down before lifting his head, pushing the hat up with a single finger, "'A man who makes a woman cry is the enemy of men and women. But a monster is one who doesn't understand the meaning behind her tears.'"

Roko's quote drew a polite series of approving claps from most of the watchers not named Roland. So Roko continued,

"'You may turn your back from the truth but there won't be a lie there to comfort you.'"

More "ooos" and some more clapping.

"'There's plenty of fish in the sea but if you want to go fishing then you can at least be quiet enough to not scare all the fish away.'"

"Okay you bastard, give that back." Roland scowled as he made a grab for his hat back but fell short of reaching across the table as Helena snickered.

"I'm not even sure why I bother flexing my film noir knowledge when all you've watched is Casablanca." Roko sighed as he flicked the fedora back to Roland.

"I've watched other film noirs!" Roland protested.

"I can't imagine what film noirs you're talking about if you don't watch detective movies."

"I watched detective film noirs." Roland grumbled as he put his hat on, "I just don't like them as much."

"Is it because the mysteries are too complex for you?"

"NO!"

"Speaking of complex mysteries." Helena clapped her hands, bringing their retorts to an end, "Let's finally talk about the MEMORY. You know, the thing we all came here for? Roko, I want a full report on Hyacinth and Scabius' battle."

A little while later...

"Wow, that sounds like a pretty intense battle." Helena whistled as she munched on some roasted broccoli, "I wish I had seen it for myself."

"I didn't think Nasturtium would regain her sight at the very end there." Roko mused, "That's impressive."

"So now that we're on the same page...what did we learn?" Brook asked.

"Did we even learn why elves turn into dark elves?" Roland frowned, "That's what we came here to learn in the first place."

"Of course we did." Roko and Helena replied at the same time.

"What?" Roland frowned, "Did we?"

"The king asked Zinnia why he thinks he hadn't turned into a dark elf despite showing clear resistance against him." Roko explained.

"That's a pretty clear indication that dark elves turn when the system senses their intention goes against the king's." Helena continued, "This is supported by the moment Hyacinth and Borage both turned, after confronting the king."

"Yes but what does that mean in the modern day?" Kaguya asked, "Is the system still running on this framework to continue turning elves? Does that mean the Dryadalis Mors Moratorium system failed to shut down despite Lycoris' efforts? What does that mean of the cradle and the monsters in it today? How does this knowledge help elves avoid turning into dark elves?"

"I don't know is the answer for most of those questions." Roko replied, "We just don't have the ability to check up on the Tree Cradle today."

"I don't think any modern elves have even heard of a Tree Cradle, much less know where it is." Brook nodded, "And it seems like they were locked away spatially like your school so it could be anywhere in the world."

"As for how it helps the modern elves, it really doesn't." Helena nodded, "We really don't know what it means to 'show resistance to the king' now that the king is dead. If it's still running off that premise then it's really unfair since we can't really confirm any solid rules for the transformation."

"I can say that since the king is dead and the system is still running that it is not reliant on the king's actual conditions. Perhaps it is running off a simulation of the king's ideals. For what that's worth." Kaguya added.

"Hmm. We learned a lot but in the end, we still know nothing." Brook said, "The journal wasn't wrong, the ebonization process is indeed a curse forced upon the elves by their king. And that's as close as we're gonna get at the end of all this."

"That said, I'm surprised this journal survived." Roland remarked, "If Glacier is a descendant of Scabius then that means someone picked up this journal off his body. That could mean someone actually visited the cradle at some point."

"Scabius wasn't the journal holder." Roko replied, "Zinnia was."

"Wait he was?"

"You were too busy fighting but yeah it was." Helena confirmed.

"Does...that mean Glacier is a descendant of Zinnia then?"

"I find that hard to believe." Brook crossed her arms, "Then again, all of the royal guards weren't nearly as...contentious as Glacier."

"There's plenty of formative years left after the collapse of the cradle to create someone like Glacier." Roko said, "That said, in terms of reconciliation between the two races, I don't know if this information is enough."

"Yeah, we'd really need to get into the king's head in order to establish something." Helena nodded, "That's the problem."

"Maybe we can call his spirit from the dead?" Roland suggested, "Can you do that, Enlil?"

"Huh? Oh uh...maybe if you could bring me something from him?" Enlil frowned, "It all really depends on you."

"Figures..." Helena sighed.

"Everyone!" Corissa called from the kitchen, "Lunch is ready!"

"Finally." Roland got up first, "I'm starving."

"Should've eaten your vegetables then, Roland." Helena smirked.

"I DID! You can't say I didn't!"

"You could always eat more. I'm sure even Enlil ate more veggies than you. Right Enlil?"

"How long are you guys gonna stay here?" Enlil sighed.

"We'll leave early next morning." Brook explained, "Don't worry if you don't have enough room for us, we can camp outside."

As everyone filed away to eat dinner, Roko picked up the journal and opened it to its last page again. And as he suspected, there was a new entry:

Autumn Moon, 5th Stem

The king's reign has ended. From now on there will be no more king to serve. The elves have scattered far and wide. There is no longer any chance of reuniting them nor remedying the relations between elves and dark elves. At least not alone. I have no right to belong to either side. The only thing I can do is what I can do as a soldier. If the elves were the vanguards of the war then I shall carry that duty until we can return. I certainly won't achieve anything on my own. But it is the only thing left for me to do. I shall not be able to make another entry from now on. This journal's run out of pages already. Lycoris, I won't die.

"We're finally back!"

Roko's group made the trip back to Duskwald in almost record time. The girls would say it's thanks to Roko not going off on his own again and Roko would just grumble in response. Barely after finally crossing the gate back, before they could even get used to their old surroundings again, they saw Mistral stomping up to them with a very disgruntled look on her face.

"Hey Mistral." Helena greeted her cordially, "What's up?"

"Where's Roko?"

"Right over there."

"Roko! You're coming with me."

"Wait what?" Roko said as Mistral quickly grabbed onto his arm and dragged him away, "What's going on?!"

"Treesa's locked herself in her room for almost three days now."

"What? What happened?"

"Unfortunately, my husband said something very insensitive."

"What'd he say?"

"Treesa had been going and helping out with Spark's gyoza stand ever since you left and she has gotten pretty famous among the dark elves...as the very sad looking, depressed elf that never speaks and just helps make dumplings."

"That's...one hell of a way to be known..."

"Spark let her help out for a while and everything was just fine until he said to her one day, 'You know, if you don't want to help me, you can leave.'"

"Oh."

"I KNOW RIGHT?! So Treesa started crying and left, locking herself in her room for days now."

"And what do you want me to do about it?"

"TALK TO HER!"

"OKAY BUT WHY ME?!"

"Who else is gonna do it?!"

"I don't know, any of the girls?!"

"We all know you give good advice!"

"I DON'T REMEMBER BEING KNOWN FOR GIVING ADVICE?!"

"JUST GET IN THERE!"

Mistral practically threw Roko into the inn they were using in Duskwald. And with her standing in the doorway, Roko had no choice but to make his way nervously up to Treesa's room. It was dead silent outside her door but trying her door's handle showed that it was locked. So Roko reached up and knocked on her door.

"Hey..." Roko said awkwardly, "We're back. You doing okay?"

A few shuffling of sheets and soft footsteps and the door opened a creak, a very depressed and disheveled Treesa peaked out to greet him.

"Welcome back." Treesa said in a small voice.

"...Mis...I was told what happened. You doing okay?"

"..." Treesa shut the door again. Trying the door handle once more only proved that it was locked again.

"...Okay look, I know what Sparks...or...Root...or whatever...he's a bit dense. I'm sure you know better than anyone and you're trying to forgive him and you know he didn't mean it in any mean way or anything. But you can't do it and that frustrates you but that's fine. If you can't resolve things the way you want, you can still resolve things in a different way that may be just as valid and satisfying. You don't have to forgive him, you just have to move past it. I know that doesn't sound healthy but it's healthier than locking away until you can do the one thing you want to do but can't."

There was a bit of silence before Roko could hear a bit of soft sobbing from behind the door. Roko sighed and sat himself down outside her door, leaning against it as he could hear Treesa clearly on the other side, hunched down and crying softly. For a moment, the two sat there as Roko thought of different ways of prying Treesa out of her room.

"Why..." Treesa said weakly, "Why do I hate the people I love and love the people I hate?"

"..." Roko sighed, "The only constant in life is change. We change and the people around us change. That creates a dissonance between even the people we're the closest with and even with ourselves. We try to pull things forward with us, we try to pull things back to what we knew. But in the end we don't go anywhere. We can't pull the past forward while holding the future back. We need support and we need to support. We need to choose how to push away the past, to leave things in memories and we need to push the future forward to make room for ourselves. We need to let the past push us forward as we continue to pull towards tomorrow. We need to push and pull. You want to know why you hate what you love? Because they're holding you back. You want to know why you love what you hate? Because they're trying to pull you forward. You can fight against one of them. But you have to accept the other. You don't have to run forward. But you can't stay here."

…

Treesa began crying again, sobbing harder and more emotionally than before. All Roko could do was hope she took some meaning from his words. Nobody had the power to coax her out. But if he could help her understand herself, maybe she'll come out on her own. That's all Roko could do. Help her understand…

"Understand..." Roko muttered, "'A man who makes a woman cry is the enemy of men and woman. But a monster is one who doesn't understand the meaning behind her tears.' ...Guess I'm a monster then..."

Roko sighed.

…

"Wait, did she grab me because I give good combat advice? That's completely different!"