Many tears are shed. Tiss is having a lot of trouble processing the loss of her family and ho. Hopefully Elyssia can explain things properly. After maybe ten minutes, Tiss steadies her breathing and sits up straight, trying to keep the tears from falling. She’s still letting out a few streams, but she’s not crying as uncontrollably.
Elyssia returns a few minutes later. She takes a seat on the lone stump and then calls out a collection of mushrooms from her Item Box.
[Elyssia] "I found so decent ones. All are common quality, but they should be plenty delicious."
Elyssia snaps her fingers and sends a spark arcing through the air to the fire pit between us. She waves her hand to call out a tal stand, a skillet, a spatula, and so butter from her Item Box.
[Elyssia] "I’ll cook us up so olets. Then we’ll talk."
She grabs six eggs from and sets them aside while she starts to prepare so food. I look over to Tiss, who is wiping tears and trying to keep her cool. I rest my hand on her thigh and try to look into her eyes. Tiss ets my gaze, but is having trouble keeping her eyes locked with mine. She’s distracted and anxious.
[Wade?] "I’m here for you, kay?"
I whisper this to Tiss and she nods her head in response, sniffing loudly and trying to hold back more tears. Her hand falls to her lap and rests over top my hand. Her palm is soaking wet. It’s a bit awkward and uncomfortable, but I don’t mind it. Together, we wait for Elyssia to finish up cooking sothing to eat.
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[Elyssia] "Eat up, darlings!"
Elyssia hands over two plates to Tiss and I. Each has a two-egg olet with sautéed mushrooms. The status screen that opens when I receive the dish says that it’s rated at Exquisite quality.
Tiss and I both take a bite of our al at the sa ti. Both of us feel our faces forced into a smile as we’re lost in the heavenly flavor. The eggs have such a rich flavor. The mushrooms are earthy. The butter adds so much and brings everything together. I think she only added a salt. This dish didn’t really need anything else. Simple, but so satisfying.
[Elyssia] "I’m glad to see that my cooking training has paid off. I’ve raised my skill level to 120."
I swallow my bite and snap to attention at hearing how high her skill has reached. It must takes sothing upward of 200 million experience at least to reach such a level.
[Wade?] "What made you practice so much?"
[Elyssia] "Well, I was always jealous of how great Rick was at cooking. I starting practicing more seriously after the day we lost him. But also, there’s the bounty on my head so I can’t go into town anymore."
Tiss chokes on her al, loudly coughing through the pain. After she recovers, she stands up in a rush, leaving her plate beside her on the log.
[Tiss] "A bounty? What’s this about, Ely?"
[Elyssia] "Calm down, Tiss. I’ll tell all shortly. Keep eating. I need to think about where to start telling you about the world."
Tiss hangs her head, then takes a seat once more. She silently continues to eat. I do the sa.
The next few minutes are awkward as we all eat in silence. When we’ve all finished eating, Elyssia collects everything back into her Item Box. She stokes the flas on the firepit now that the sun has started to go down and it’s growing colder.
[Elyssia] "Well I guess I’ll tell you about that day when you disappeared."
Tiss and I subconsciously gulp from the anxiety and anticipation to learn about what happened in 27 years.
[Elyssia] "After I was blown away, I ended up with broken ribs and a broken leg. I managed to heal enough with a potion to walk, but not fully heal the damage. I made it back to where the fight happened only to find Rick’s corpse. I searched all over for you two, but couldn’t find you. So I collected Rick’s body and used a teleportation scroll to get back to the Duchy."
[Tiss] "What happened with Rick’s body after that?"
[Elyssia] "I delivered him to his wife and family. They buried him near his parents’ graves."
There’s a mont of silence that washes over the conversation. Maybe Tiss and I can find the grave soti so we can pay our respects.
[Elyssia] "When I told your parents about what happened, they had different reactions. You mother was inconsolable. She cried for days and wouldn’t leave her room. You father continued on with things as they were."
[Tiss] "That actually sounds about right."
[Wade?] "Wait, are you not mad that your father didn’t grieve over your loss?"
[Tiss] "No. I was always just a tool to him. One that he’d do anything to make happy so as not to lose his political bargaining chip. If anything, he always just saw as a greedy little girl. He wanted to marry off and have gone."
[Wade?] "I know you explained this a bit before, but do you seriously not care about your father?"
[Tiss] "It’s just how our relationship was. Elyssia, were my brothers the sa?"
[Elyssia] "Pretty much."
[Tiss] "Figures."
Tiss folds her arms below her chest and huffs a sigh. I don’t really understand what her relationship with her family is like. To cry over their loss, but having such distance. There must be sothing deeper that I’m missing.
[Elyssia] "Actually, your eldest brother placed the bounty on my head. The buffoon always resented for turning down his advances and used your disappearance as a way to fra for murder of a knight and the daughter of a Duke."
[Tiss] "And you’ve just had a bounty ever since?"
[Elyssia] "For 25 years, yes. I can’t exactly go into town and try to get it fixed. And since soone from a Duke’s family set the bounty, it has never gone away and the paynt is supposed to co from Adventurer’s Guild. In fact, the price has gone up because they seem to think I’m a dangerous witch who was involved in the uprising a few years ago."
[Tiss] "Uprising? I know that the Duchy wasn’t the happiest or wealthiest territory, but why would anyone rebel?"
[Elyssia] "Six years ago, chaos erupted in the Von Claus Duchy. Citizens took up arms and rushed guards. They burned down governnt buildings and gatehouses. Citizens avoided hurting each other, but would storm the gates of the castle together. They killed many guards before all of them would snap out of their rage at the sa ti. During the chaos, the castle had been destroyed and the Von Claus family was killed.
I found evidence of two things. Firstly, soone with powers I don’t recognize or understand influenced the population with magic to riot. Secondly, they called in those monsters from before. The ones called STRING THEORY. They destroyed the castle and killed the remaining mbers of the von Claus family. I couldn’t intervene quickly enough to save anyone. But my presence was found out in the aftermath of the chaos. I was blad for the damage."
[Wade?] "A wanted criminal with a high bounty is found after everyone wakes up from the magical control. And you’re a know wizard. It would make sense to accuse you."
[Elyssia] "Sage, dearie."
[Wade?] "Hm?"
[Elyssia] "I’m a Sage now. It’s a Secret Job that I unlocked through study."
I’m stunned by the sudden change in topic, but just decide to roll with it. I bow my head and lean forward a bit.
[Wade?] "Congratulations, Elyssia."
[Elyssia] "Why thank you, Wade. You’ve gotten so much more polite."
[Tiss] "There’s a huge gap in the story, you know?"
[Elyssia] "Hm?"
Elyssia’s head tilts to the side, she holds one finger up to her cheek and looks at Tiss, questioning her interjection.
[Tiss] "25 years ago, you were accused of killing Rick and I. 6 years ago, you were accused of destroying the castle and killing the rest of my family. What else have you been doing? Camping in the woods?"
[Elyssia] "Researching the 10-Dinsional Tachyonic Antilabyrinth and the relation to STRING THEORY."
[Tiss] "The what?"
[Elyssia] "The place you were both sent to. I spent a long ti looking through texts written by people from other worlds that prove the existence of many other dinsions. The realm of white that gods often appear in when calling on mortal souls., that labyrinth, even the nest of those monsters called SUPERSTRING THEORY."
[Wade?] "And here I thought only Harold knew about this stuff."
[Elyssia] "Other gods have shared with the souls that they sent here to this world. And those people have also had experiences that they wished to write down. I just did my due diligence in searching for that information."
[Tiss] "So... what are you doing camping out in the forest?"
[Elyssia] "Oh. I just co back here every year and touch up the graves. I camp here for a few days and play with the Savage Bunnies."
My traumatic experience with the bunnies flashes through my mind and I’m struck with a shiver down my spine. Those little devils...
[Tiss] "So what are you going to do now that we’re back?"
[Elyssia] "Well that’s a good question. I’ve spent a long ti studying magic and trying to find out more about what happened to you. Since you’re back and I now know a lot more, I think it depends on what you want to do."
[Tiss] "I don’t really know what I want to do from here."
[Elyssia] "Well... you don’t have a ho to go back to. I wouldn’t know how to track down any friends of yours, but they’ve all aged 27 years. This kingdom is hunting down so I can’t stay here much longer. So I suggest you both co with to my ho. You can both figure out what to do from there."
Tiss and I share a look. Confident in this being a good option, we nod our heads to each other in understanding.
[Tiss & Wade?] "Then let’s get going."
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