Chapter 93 — Decision (4)
Chapter 93 — Decision (4)
"...Good heavens."
Rauka, who had been sitting slumped over for a long while, sprang to her feet. The momentum was something no one would have imagined from her previous state.
"All of this... is crystal?!"
The cave passage they had entered and the space they were trapped in were composed entirely of crystal.
Roan, too, widened his eyes in astonishment.
'... That's not what I saw in the game. Is it connected to the collapse? Or was the inner cave always different?'
In the game, the cave wall and the crystal sections had been clearly distinct.
The textures had looked roughly like crystals driven into a dark cave wall, as if someone had hammered in lanterns.
But what Roan was seeing now was,
quite literally, a vein of crystal, and they were in its heart.
The cave wall of earth and rock was densely packed with translucent crystal.
The crystal ore, which began to glow under the 'starlight,' radiated a mysterious color on the boundary between blue and violet, like an aurora.
The mystical light emanating from the transparent ore filled the cave wall and rippled like waves.
"It seems this was hidden, just like the ruins."
"...It reacts to Your Majesty's power, doesn't it?"
"Mm."
Roan surveyed the cave, now filled entirely with surging light reacting to the starlight.
It was a mystical hue.
The transparent light filled the cave, making it feel as though they had been transported to another universe.
The sensation was so wondrous that it made them forget, for a moment, that they had been trapped here for dozens of hours.
"...Tremendous mana...."
Rauka murmured as she touched the crystal.
Then, abruptly, she yanked her hand back in alarm.
"What's wrong?"
"Damn, a huge chunk of my mana just got sucked out...."
Rauka frowned.
"This crystal is the culprit absorbing mana. It seems it wasn't just the 'seed's' power it was draining."
"It may store that mana and convert it into the land's power."
"...If the power from the 'Dark Forest Seed' is this staggering, then just how incredible is the 'seed' itself?!"
Seeing Rauka unable to hide her excitement, Roan chuckled.
"Aina, didn't you say that even the children do not believe that tale?"
"Erm...."
Rauka, who had trailed off as if slightly embarrassed, reluctantly admitted she had been wrong.
"But when you see hidden ruins appear before your eyes, or find masses of crystal you never knew existed.... It's getting harder not to believe. And the fact that all of this only reacts to Your Majesty is also strange."
"Mm. That is certainly strange."
Roan carefully brushed his hand over the crystal.
Since the mana inside his body was already completely empty, he felt nothing being drained away.
Instead, what he felt was the condensed mana squirming inside the crystal, as if ready to burst out.
He could sense that each individual shard of crystal held tremendous power.
However, he doubted whether simply planting the crystal physically in the ground would restore the soil's fertility. The crystal might instead drain all the surrounding mana and earth-force.
To unlock the power stored within and return it to the soil, the assistance of a scholar like a wizard or an apothecary seemed absolutely necessary.
The first name that came to mind was Erenier, an exceptional wizard, but she could not come to Basel immediately due to the war's aftermath and wedding preparations.
Who else could he recruit who was a wizard of her caliber?
Roan, who had fallen into thought for a moment, let out a chuckle.
"...Why are you laughing all of a sudden, Your Majesty?"
"Because it's so absurd."
Roan sighed with a smile while still seated.
"I was just pondering whom to entrust with researching this crystal."
"...That's efficient."
Rauka also let out a weary laugh and sat back down beside Roan.
And time passed once more.
In the meantime, the two of them skinned the bear carcass in the corner of the cave and roasted the meat.
It smelled gamey and wasn't easy to eat, but roasted meat was better than the rotting corpse.
They could see the smoke from the roasting meat escaping through the hole above, but they still sensed no sign of anyone searching for them outside.
Rauka's expression grew darker still.
"Aina. Your mana...."
During their time trapped, Roan had occasionally cast 'Blessing of the Stars' on Rauka. Strangely, the blessing could slightly slow the rate at which her mana was drained.
But it was now deep winter.
Even wrapped in the bear's hide, there was a limit to how much cold she could endure.
No matter that she was a forest elf, it was impossible for her to maintain her body temperature sitting still in a sunless cave in midwinter.
Rauka had been using a warming spell while receiving Roan's blessing, but her mana was gradually running dry.
"...I still have a little left...."
"Dispel the magic for now. It's fine."
Until a few hours ago, Rauka had retorted, 'It's mana that will disappear anyway. Isn't it better we use it than let the crystal drain it?' But now, she quietly accepted Roan's words and withdrew her magic.
Her mana truly was on the verge of bottoming out.
And once all her available mana was gone,
what would follow was the draining of the mana flowing through the forest elf's body itself.
Unlike humans or demonkind, a forest elf's body has a strong flow of mana. In modern terms, one might say the proportion of mana components in their blood is higher.
Because of that, being trapped in this crystal cave was, for her, like falling into a poison swamp.
She was being robbed of the very components of her blood.
"How long... has it been?"
Watching Rauka's complexion, Roan glanced at the long-term quest clock in the corner of his vision.
"Thirty-nine hours."
It was the deep of the night, before the morning sun had risen.
The coldest hour.
Rauka was shivering.
The water in the canteen Rauka had brought was scarce, so they had been drinking it sparingly.
If their mana had been sufficient, they might have considered activating a shield and blasting the cave open, but no one had imagined the rescue would be delayed this much.
Rauka murmured in a voice that was crawling away.
"...I'm sorry. Your Majesty."
"...What...?"
"From the start, I shouldn't have done this...."
The vitality drained from Rauka's eyes.
"If only I hadn't blindly run out here like an idiot...."
"Do not blame yourself for the past."
Roan smiled bitterly.
"But I will be angry with you next time."
At Roan's words, Rauka smiled weakly.
Because she could not muster the courage to ask him, 'Will there be a next time?'
Fortunately, the Demon King's body was robust.
Having a body with a Health Stat of 99 meant not just a large health pool, but a physique that wouldn't be affected by most extremes of cold or heat.
Moreover, even if the search was delayed for some reason, once the emperor had failed to return for this long, the Lord of the West Blood Territory would be frantically turning the entire forest upside down to find Roan.
But Rauka was not as hardy as Roan, nor did she have faith in the Great Lord.
Thus, anxiety and cold became an even more extreme torment for her.
Roan had even draped his own cloak over her,
but Rauka had already begun to lose vitality rapidly after thirty hours of being trapped in the cave.
"...Your Majesty."
When the silence was finally broken after a long time, it was by Rauka's shivering voice.
Rauka spoke to Roan, trembling so much that the chattering of her teeth was audible.
"I have... a request."
"Hm?"
It was unexpected.
A faint blush of color returned to Rauka's previously pale face.
Rauka's voice was now so small it seemed about to extinguish completely. Whether from embarrassment or exhaustion, he couldn't tell.
"...Please do it...."
It was a whisper so faint that even Roan, whose senses were sharpened by 'Detection,' could barely hear it.
Roan asked again to confirm whether what he had heard was correct.
"...Aina, did I just hear you...?"
"...."
Wordlessly, Rauka only nodded her flushed face and added,
"I... of course I know it's an awful thing to say.... But there is such a thing as a worst-case scenario.... So, what I mean is, I thought I don't know how this will end now. So...."
Rauka looked at Roan.
Wearing an expression tinged with embarrassment, the forest elf was gauging Roan's reaction.
"...One last time. Just once, together with me...."
Roan nodded.
It wasn't that he didn't want to hear her finish the sentence, but considering Rauka's current state, he didn't want to torment her that much.
"It's alright. Aina."
Roan embraced Rauka.
Despite her tall stature, the slender forest elf slipped neatly into Roan's arms.
Rauka buried her face in Roan's shoulder as if embarrassed.
As he held her, Roan activated 'Mihon.'
The power that gently unfolded and captivated the mind.
A hint of wariness faded from Rauka's eyes.
"Your Majesty, you're warm...."
Still holding Rauka, Roan stroked her back over the bearskin she wore.
"The warmth of another person's body is a comfort."
"It would have been nice if I had a life partner too...."
Rauka murmured from within his embrace.
Roan gently tilted up the face of the woman in his arms.
"Someday, you will find your partner. But for now, focus on me."
"...Huh?"
Rauka's face flushed red once more.
Flustered, she averted her gaze elsewhere as if shy.
"Ah, no, but still, a forest elf's life partner is originally another forest elf who keeps traveling the woods.... And I'm already disqualified as a forest elf, so..."
"Aina. You don't have to insist on doing things the same way as other forest elves."
Roan stroked her hair.
Her high ponytail, once neatly tied, was disheveled in places from the long outdoor activity, but it still carried the distinctive pleasant scent of a forest elf.
A refreshing fragrance rose up, mingled with the blood from the bear carcass, the animal smell, and the earthy scent of the cave.
It was the scent of trees found only deep in the forest.
"You are still a forest elf. Even if other forest elves think otherwise, you don't need to become human or a member of demonkind."
Roan buried his face in the nape of her neck and inhaled deeply. Rauka flinched as if ticklish.
"You are already a beautiful herald of the forest."
As the two shared their body heat,
during that silent moment, a beeping notification sound announced the rise in Rauka's affection.
The affection, which had started at +25, rose to +40 and then stopped.
Rauka was a character whose affection indicator existed, but nothing beyond that was known.
She had an affection score as if she were an NPC the Hero could have sex with, but once she joined the Hero's party, Rauka became wary of everyone except Grünent and poured all her fervor into revenge against the Demon King.
That was because the Rauka in the game believed that demonkind and their leader, the Demon King, were the enemies of her lover, or unrequited love.
Thus, the Hero—the player—could not romance Rauka. They could build a certain degree of intimacy, but they could never reach a sex scene.
So it wasn't even known what skill could be obtained from her.
Therefore, holding her was uncharted territory.
He didn't know what skill might appear,
and it was even unclear if she was a valid target for 'Skill Duplication' in the first place.
But one thing was certain:
She needed him right now.
Rauka's skill was just a bonus anyway. It wasn't very important at the moment.
"...Your Majesty."
Embracing the shoulders of the forest elf whose trembling had barely subsided despite her pitiful expression, Roan lightly cupped her cold cheeks with both hands and kissed her.
The forest elf's face, which had seemed to be freezing, grew warm from the hot body heat.
Rauka felt a sense of relief from that warmth.
Maybe she should have brought this up sooner.
Rauka laughed internally at a regret that was utterly unimportant in the current situation.
She couldn't continue the thought.
Because the sensation touching her lips was hotter, sweeter, and more intense than she had ever imagined.
"...Huh, mmm...."
It was a light kiss, with 'Mihon' activated so Rauka would feel as little aversion as possible.
Eyes wide with surprise at the unexpected sensation, Rauka accepted the peck.
The soft feel and temperature of their lips touching playfully felt quite good, and just as Rauka began to smile unconsciously, Roan licked her lips with his tongue.
"Mmm... nh...?"
"If it feels strange, tell me at any time."
"Ah, no... it's not...."
Shyly, Rauka accepted Roan's tongue.
Her lips parted weakly.
'It's strange....'
A kiss was something she couldn't understand when Grünent had explained it to her.
To intertwine tongues.
What kind of incomprehensible act was that?
She knew that sexual intercourse between a man and a woman was the act of joining their genitals, but why go so far as to use their tongues?
However, her first kiss, conducted while 'Mihon' made her feel pleasure from physical contact, was tremendous.
'It feels... good....'
Even after living for over two hundred years, Rauka's vocabulary for the pleasures of a relationship between a man and a woman was lacking.
She frantically accepted Roan's entwining tongue as she panted for breath.
Her softly closed eyelids fluttered.
Unconsciously, Rauka squirmed where her body pressed against Roan. Her thighs, muscled and pleasant to look at, slowly rubbed together.