MTLNOVEL Chapter 183: Energy Fall
"We're going on a camping trip?" Momo said excitedly.
"Yeah, it's really more like a reconstruction effort." Helena sighed, "We have to fix up the old orc stronghold for one old man and his adopted dark elf daughter to live in."
"Seems like a lot to give to one person." Kaguya said, "Even if the orc's home wasn't exactly the most well made place, that's still a LOT of real estate we're just handing over."
"I'm sure the place's been depreciated since the orcs set up roots there." Brook said.
"Yeah but we're fixing it up aren't we? That won't matter once we're done."
"Well it's that or we blow a hole in the forest's magical economy trying to use sanctuary on their current home." Roko said, "Unless you have a better idea."
"I guess I don't." Kaguya sighed.
"Great. Also can I get something better than soup?" Roko said as he slurped his egg drop soup, "Like my jaw still works guys, I am using it to talk right now. I can munch on things."
"Yeah but your stomach acid's actually dangerously low right now so we don't want to risk you eating anything too solid." Mistral called from her desk.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE SYMPTOMS?"
"I don't know how to tell you this Roko. If poisons were colors, you swallowed a disco ball."
"First of all, I wasn't poisoned. I was exposed to what was essentially radiation. Ergo and second, I didn't swallow anything. Third, you're saying this like poison doesn't already have a color. Fourth, disco balls don't actually emit light, it's just a series of reflective panels that reflects light as it turns."
"First of all, you are suffering from mana poisoning. POISONING. Second, it's a metaphor. Third, it's a metaphor. Fourth, modern disco balls include ones that emit light."
"Damn, you got out nitpicked." Helena smirked.
"I feel like my arguments are still valid." Roko grumbled as he went back to drinking his soup.
"I mean, I don't know what color most poisons are like so I can't refute you." Momo grinned.
"Most poisons are colorless." Kaguya explained, "At least, the good ones are."
"Huh?" Momo looked at Kaguya.
"Huh?" Kaguya looked at Momo.
"Anyway, this reconstruction project all depends on how the old man feels about being in a sanctified zone." Roko sighed, "If it works, we move onto setting up enchantments to keep it going and then the renovating."
"We're going to try and keep sanctuary up?" Momo frowned, "Isn't that a spell derived from holy which is anti-magic? Can we even use magic to keep up an anti-magic enchantment?"
"That's why we're going back to Granreveria first to check." Roko explained, "If anybody would have answers, it'd be Rivera."
"And maybe she can help with your mana poisoning!" Helena said as she cheerfully clapped.
"Yeah, I guess we can do that too."
"Why Roko, it almost sounds like you don't WANT to be cured."
"No its..." Roko scowled, "It's fine."
"Mmhm. Well I think rest of us can all agree that this return trip is good for one more thing."
"And what would that be?" Roko frowned.
"Getting you away from the mana dense zone." All the girls replied at the same time.
"Just kill me." Roko growled as he went back to sipping his soup.
With all their plans in place, Roko and company made their preparations to finally leave Duskwald.
"But it feels like you just got here!" Reaumur moaned as she hugged Penny close to her chest.
"They've been here for at least a few weeks already." Romer sighed as he pat his daughter on the shoulder, "You have to let them go."
"We're not going to die over here." Momo chuckled.
"I mean, Roko might." Brook smirked.
"I'm actually feeling much better today." Roko said calmly.
"Oh yeah? Good for you, buddy." Helena grinned as she walked up from behind Roko and patted him on the back...with enough force for Roko to cough exactly three times before he stopped himself.
"You know, it's really bold of you to lie to our faces like that." Brook remarked.
"I'm not lying!" Roko coughed again, "I'm really fine!"
"So you're not lying to us, you're just lying to yourself." Treesa sighed as she placed another crate of food down in her cart, "Ah, before I forget, do we have any standing orders on how to treat Roko while we're gone?"
"No working, no solid foods, no magic training, no writing, no reading, no staying up late." Mistral said as she walked up to them with Spark standing besides her.
"Eugh..." Treesa grimaced slightly at their arrival.
"Hey Mistal!" Helena grinned, "So I get everything else but why no reading or writing?"
"His eyes aren't really able to make out small characters right now. I'm afraid that if we just force the issue, his eyesight will just get used to the worse condition instead of recovering naturally."
"Damn. He's already wearing glasses too."
"So what am I supposed to do for fun?" Roko frowned.
"How about actually fun stuff?" Mistal smirked.
"And what would that be?"
"I mean, what do you find fun?"
"...I don't know..."
"Man, you need a hobby." Helena sighed,
"I used to have a hobby." Roko grumbled.
"What was it?"
"Video games."
"Is that something from your world?"
"Yeah."
"Does it have to do with like...making milk tea or something?"
"Why is milk tea now part of my identity?"
"I mean, you did make it."
"I did NOT make it, I carried it over."
"Eh, same thing."
"Okay well does that mean I have a hobby then?"
"Not likely. Don't worry, I'll set you up with the most fun person I know."
"...Momo?"
"I mean, the most fun person I know is you. But a close second is Roland!"
"Please no..."
"Don't worry bro." Roland placed a hand on Roko's shoulder, "I'll find you a hobby."
"I thought you liked me." Roko said, completely ignoring Roland, "Why would you torture me like this?"
"It's for the greater good." Helena said with mocking sincerity.
"Is the greater good your attention span?"
"Hey, if you want, you can help me with my essay in the downtime."
"No reading or writing!" Mistral said sternly.
"I'll just read what I want to write for him to proofread."
"Okay." Mistal gave the okay sign.
"Uuummm...Treesa." Spark approached the elf's cart anxiously.
Treesa shrunk back a bit, unable to look her ex-husband in the eyes.
"I-I'm sorry." Spark took a few awkward steps back.
"You should be sorry." Mistral slapped Spark in the back of his head, "How someone as awkward as you ever snatched up a girl as nice as Treesa will be one of the seven wonders of the world."
"Umm..." Treesa looked at a loss for words.
"Things are going to be much more uneventful without you, Treesa." Mistral said, "Come on back whenever you like, you hear?"
"Y-Yes!" Spark quickly added, "I'd love to spend more time with you again! I mean...together...the three of us! If...if you want..."
"Hmmmm…?" Mistral eyed her husband with a playful skepticism.
"If...if the two of you want..."
"Mmm." Mistral nodded, satisfied with his correction, "Well, I'm down."
"I..." Treesa looked unsure of how to response, now almost comfortable with the feeling of being lost and astray that she had been stuck in ever since she arrived here.
"What's wrong?" Helena called playfully.
"I...don't know how many times I can come here." Treesa finally responded, "I'm just an innkeeper. And the relationship between our two races is still really bad."
"Oh I'm sure we can do something about that." Kaguya said as she walked up from behind the two dark elves and slid one of Treesa's cargo into her carriage, "I know WE'll certainly be trying to bridge the gap. So have a little more faith in you and your bonds, Treesa. So go ahead and speak your mind."
Treesa looked down, more shy than conflicted but slowly, she brought up the courage to look the two dark elves in the eyes and say with a small smile on her face, "I'll...see if I can come back someday."
"We'll be waiting for you." Mistral nodded.
As the rest looked proudly on the three elves, Momo turned around to speak to the hooded, masked individual sitting quietly on the floor, "Anything to add, Brook?"
"...No. There's no point in promising anything I can't be sure I can keep."
"You sound like Roko now."
"Drop it."
"Brook."
The sound of Gareth's voice drew the elven princesses up as the human turned lich floated over the everyone else, looking directly at her with a gentle smile.
"Til next time." The handsome man nodded.
"...Til next time." The pure love in her voice only leaking out subtly.
"Hey so will Roko get motion sickness on the way back?" Helena asked.
"Probably." Mistral replied.
"Damn. Anything I can do for him?"
"Corissa's already making a bed for him in the cart."
"I don't need that!" Roko protested.
"Well I am your doctor and I say you do."
"Am I even recovering?! I should be recovering right?!"
"Hard to say. Some fields are recovering and some fields are regressing."
"Yeah but on the whole, I'm recovering right?"
"Ask your fancy Granreverian doctors."
"I don't even know if there are any." Roko muttered.
"Mistral?" Corissa called as she appeared at the entrance of one of the carriages, "Does Roko need four pillows?"
"NO!"
"Yes."
In a return trip thankfully bereft of owlbears, Roko's group soon crossed the pure white stone walls of Granreveria once more. A few elves were there to greet them, some to help move their cargo, some to just welcome them back and some to heap more poems upon Corissa's return. Roko left not long after returning in order to make a report to the elf queen.
Rivera sat coldly upon her ornate throne as Brook made the majority of the report. Rivera had offered a token welcome when they arrived and remained stone-faced as her daughter dutifully finished her report.
"You certainly had quite the adventure out there in the dark elf realm." Rivera sighed, "And Roko, you really went and severely mana poisoned yourself for power?"
"It's not just power." Roko replied, "It's also knowledge."
"You know, you could've just used the Mystic Transcriber."
"You know, I forget about that thing a lot."
"Well, I wouldn't recommend using it right now what with your poisoning..."
"I mean, I've run out of other things to do."
"What a droll way of referring to one of our staple magical invention."
"I mean, it sounds like it's going to hurt."
"Oh? Are you scared?"
"No, but I'm sick."
"I'm well aware." River sighed again, "Well, I already got most of the story from Polaris already so you go on and rest for now. We can discuss the details of your plans tomorrow."
"Anything happen while we were gone?" Roko asked.
"Hmm. We've been mostly looking for a new place for Lady Brea's grave." Rivera sighed, "We've been keeping a watch around its current location and have been assailed a few times by these tentacle monsters but we've been able to fend them off for now."
"How badly do you need this new location?"
"I'd prefer to find one before things get any worse. Why, do you have an idea?"
"Depends on how the next few days play out."
"…I see."
"So can I go to the library right now?"
"You can go to the HOSPITAL. I read the diagnosis, you're not allowed to read right now. What's more, you're practically radiating with excess magic."
"I mean, can your city cure me? It seems like this condition is pretty poorly understood."
"That depends. Not a whole lot of people are quite keen to poison themselves in order to find a cure."
"So...is there even a treatment I can get?"
"We'll have to flush all the wild mana out of you while allowing your natural mana to restore itself. The problem is that the wild mana has entered your body and now is attempting to leave, taking parts of your own reservoir of mana with them. Wild and Vital mana as we call it. As for how we do that, there are some supplements to boost the production of vital mana. And a special bath to literally wash off the excess wild mana."
"Wow, an actual treatment plan. How long will this take?"
"Depends on you. We can't remove wild mana faster than your can recover vital mana so it depends on the rate of vital mana you can recover. That said, it's still a very slow process so I'll say maybe 12 days."
"12 days?! That's nearly two weeks!"
"Did you think throwing yourself into an irradiated field would be easy?"
"...Will there be any lasting damage?"
"Oh, for sure."
"..."
"..."
…
"Anything else you want to ask, Roko?" Rivera said.
"Well, since you asked, how much did you know about the dark elves?"
Rivera's face darkened though she didn't seem angry by the question.
"I know Brook should be the one who asks but I'm too curious about the answer." Roko continued, "For how long did you know about Polaris' identity?"
"...For the past hundred years perhaps." Rivera answered to Brook's surprise, "In 10 years, I became aware of a new leader of the dark elves. In 20, I knew he was a lich. In 40, I found out this was the same human my daughter fell in love with."
"Naturally, you didn't tell your daughter because he was too dangerous, correct?"
"If he was still human, I may have considered letting them meet sooner. However, his appearance as a lich and position with the dark elves left it out of the question for them to meet."
"If he was still human, he'd be dead by now."
"..."
"So what changed?"
"...Your teacher, Zadkiel, was very clear in that we elves needed the dark elves' alliance now."
"So you've said but there was no reason for you to send Brook with us. In fact, if I recall correctly, she was quite ready to remain behind. If you knew about Polaris then you must've known that your own daughter was a good bargaining chip with him. Sending her with us was a good choice but with no other orders, Brook would remain unaware of her value as a political piece. So what were your intentions? Was it to prepare her as a political figure? Surely you must've been aware of the chance that your daughter might run away with her love again, right? What do you plan to do now that the relationship's out in the open?"
"I'll thank you to not assume I'd use my daughter as a piece on a chessboard." Rivera scowled.
Roko didn't reply, simply crossing his arms as he waited for her to address the major question.
"...I...might've also felt a bit guilty about how I treated Brook ever since she turned into a dark elf." River sighed defeatedly.
"I see." Roko said, "I understand now. Forgive me for asking, I find my current condition does tend to leave me to yap more than I'm used to. I'll leave you two to your family matters."
Roko turned around and collapsed on the floor. Brook and Rivera waited for a moment for Roko to get back up but he remained there on the floor.
"Wait...is he asleep?!" Brook cried.
"The worse his symptoms get the less they make sense." Rivera shook her head.