Mother-Daughter Reunion
Rescuing Maybel's mother wasn't all that difficult. Honestly, if it had been, that would've been a problem. Of course.
I'd already pinpointed the rough location with dowsing, and now that we were this close, I could sense her soul directly. Any ratkin we ran into along the way? I just dominated their minds, gave their thoughts a quick scan, tweaked things so they wouldn't even register our presence, and sent them back to whatever they were doing. Manipulating ratkin minds at will was a bit concerning, but... whatever. A light perception tweak was the best I could do.
Just like that, Maybel and I made it to her mother without any interruptions.
"Is my mom really here...?"
"Doesn't the dowsing rod in your hand say so?"
Maybel kept asking, her face full of anxiety. A dim, gloomy prison like this—anyone would worry if their mother was stuck in a place like that. So, I soothed her as we walked.
"No need to rush, but let's hurry. We want to get your mom out of here as quick as possible."
"Yeah!"
We finally arrived... only to find ourselves at a dead end.
"It's a dead end."
"Hmm. So it is."
Unlike the other cells, this space was completely walled off, save for a small hole at the bottom. And inside, the soul I presumed was Maybel's mother.
"No entrance— is this really it?"
"Yep. Definitely."
I could clearly sense the soul beyond the wall, so no doubt about it.
"But... there's no way to get into this room."
"Hmm. The material here is a bit different from the other walls. Looks like they built this section fresh to seal her in."
A room sealed tight on all sides. One wall was slightly different in texture. Probably just slapped together in an old cell space to trap her.
"Why would they do that?"
"Who knows. Seems overkill, but... maybe they had no choice? Had to keep her locked down?"
"Huh? Had to?"
"Say... they needed to perfectly contain your mom to extract info she had. Regular bars might not cut it if she was weakened but still could slip out?"
Someone that frail probably couldn't bend bars anyway, but you never know. Heck, a kid that small swings around a massive hammer.
"Maybe they figured without the wall, your mom could escape."
The ratkin whose minds I'd scanned on the way didn't know much about her situation. They just shoved food through the narrow gap at the bottom and recorded whatever she said, following orders. Convinced they were working for ratkin interests, no less.
"So, should we smash the wall?"
"Your strength and that hammer might do it, but debris could hurt your mom inside. No hammering."
We came to save her—not have flying chunks injure her in the process.
So.
"This is what you do in situations like this."
I pressed my index finger to the wall.
"Like this."
I traced a large circle with my finger, then pulled it away. The section cleanly severed. I extracted the chunk toward us, not into the room.
Hmm. Perfect.
"Nice and clean, right?"
"'Nice and clean'? No way! Normal people can't do that!"
"Oh?"
"Yeah!"
Well, mana use hasn't advanced much yet. They couldn't pull this off. Mana's versatile—with the right knack, you can do anything. Humans are still mostly making scrolls. It's a universal tool once you get the hang of it.
"Anyway, entrance is open. Let's go in."
Maybel and I stepped inside.
"Mom...?"
A cramped, barren room. Just a single slime rolling in the corner. Pathetic. And slumped against one wall, a gray-haired ratkin in utter ruin.
"Mom!!!"
Maybel rushed over and hugged her. Faint breathing. Frail life force. Like a candle flickering in the wind.
"Calm down. She's alive, at least."
"B-but..."
"What do you think happens if you squeeze that hard in her condition?"
Maybel froze at my words. I got her feelings, but still.
"Hang on a sec."
I gathered mana and enveloped Maybel's mother. Her body was a total wreck. Limbs shredded to bits. Malnourished, extremely weakened.
Hmm... barely clinging to life.
"Let's see..."
Restore the emaciated body with mana, repair the mangled muscles, revitalize the weakened soul. Even from half-corpse state, good as new in no time! Weird to call a human "good as new," but whatever. Healthy now, mission accomplished.
"D-done?"
"Yeah. Body's fixed. Time to wake her up."
I roused Ella—Maybel's mother. Her tightly shut eyelids fluttered slowly.
And then.
"Mom...?"
"Maybel...?"
The mother and daughter locked eyes.
"M-Mom..."
"Gods above..."
Maybel buried her face in her mother's chest. Ella slowly stroked her daughter's hair, sobbing softly.
"Gods... why send this child to me...?"
Hm?
"I wasn't afraid of dying myself... but I wanted to protect her... Why... let her die too...?"
Ah, got it. She thinks she's dead. Thinks both she and Maybel are gone.
"M-Mom?"
"Hush... poor thing... how much you suffered... I wanted to keep you safe... even if we parted, grow up well..."
"No, Mom! It's been ten years—why say that?! I'm not dead! Not dead!"
Maybel screamed, and only then did Ella's eyes clear, snapping back to reality.
"Huh...? Not dead...?"
"No! I'm alive! Alive!"
"......"
Realizing what she'd said, Ella covered her flushed face with both hands.
"F-Forget it, dear..."
Maybel's mom couldn't lift her face for a good while. Must've been mortified. Maybel was embarrassed too.
"Touching mother-daughter reunion and all, but let's move somewhere else for now."
I didn't mind sticking around, but they'd be blushing for hours like this. I'd dominated the ratkin inside the building, but newcomers from outside could change that. Easy to handle, sure, but better to relocate for a calm chat.
"Somewhere else?"
"Yeah. Let's see... restore this wall first..."
I lifted the cut section back into place, melted the edges with high heat, and fused it solid.
"There. No one'll know what happened inside."
"Maybel? Who is she...?"
"I'll explain later. Just know she's helping me out."
Ella nodded slightly at Maybel's words.
Hmm. Up close like this... Ella looks awfully young. Ratkin trait? They could pass for sisters.
Whoops. No time for stray thoughts. Time to move.
The inn room we were staying in should work. I snapped my fingers, and the dim space instantly became our cozy inn room.
"Wh-what?!"
Ella panicked at her first teleport, but Maybel—used to it by now—calmly reassured her.
"It's fine. She just used magic to move us somewhere else."
"Teleportation? That's not magic, it's a miracle..."
Finally getting a moment, Ella looked me over.
"No way... the Dragon Priestess?"
"Hm. Sharp."
At this point, she'd figure it out no matter what I did.
"Anyone'd notice after real teleportation. Especially from a girl with big horns."
"Hmph... figured."
Maybe I should seal flashy spells to hide my identity. But that's annoying.
Hmm.
"What happened for the Dragon Priestess to help you...?"
"Beats me. How'd it come to this...?"
Just coincidences stacking up. Felt like someone orchestrated it, though.
"I'd love to let you two catch up after ten years, but... save that for later."
I looked at Ella.
"I know the basics about the ratkin plans, making a new god and all. But tell me everything you know, just in case."
Like why they're after Maybel. And why Ella was locked in that cell.