We made our way back to the surface, during which Cellestra seemed intrigued by the spell orb we’d found. She held it in her hand and observed every inch of it until we stepped through the portal into the forest.

We thanked Selleron and his party and headed off to the farm, eager to share our adventure with Elira, and hoping that Soranir had some answers, although that remained to be seen. The information we were looking for was extraordinarily rare, after all.

“It’s pretty isn’t it?” I said to the brunette who was still eying the orb which flowed from ice to fire and reversed every now and then.

“It’s beautiful. Even disregarding the fact that it can be used as a weapon, it would make for great decoration.

“Maybe we could use it to liven up the nest a bit. Though, I am a bit hesitant about furnishing it, knowing people can get in if they want and possibly steal things.”

“True…” She replied in a soft voice, disappointment apparent. She then stashed away the magical sphere as we approached my parents’ residence.

We arrived to see Soranir and my parents sitting at the table, drinking some tea. The mayor’s horse walked around freely and carelessly, even when it noticed me. Elira, of course, was still in school, so we could go over whatever the city’s leader found without having to worry about her.

I greeted them as Cellestra struggled to step off my back to sit down at the table, clearly tired from our dungeon run.

“Welcome back,” My mother spoke first. “Hope everything went well?”

I nodded. “Yeah, we made it all the way to the third floor. Had to call it quits after a while there though as our mana was too low to continue.”

My mother looked at the mayor as if expecting an answer.

“I’d say that’s quite the accomplishment,” Soranir said, evidently more experienced in the matter.

“Glad you’re okay,” My father said. “And happy to hear your adventuring is going well.”

“Thank you,” I said with a smile.

“Now,” Soranir continued. “I’m sure you’re eager to hear our findings.”

I nodded.

“Well,” He said before sighing, deeply which perfectly projected his disappointment unto me. “Not much. The only thing we were able to find after turning the place upside down was a book about botanical research specifically dedicated to a flower that grew only at the base of the obelisks. It did, however, contain notes from one of the researchers. They mentioned he’d seen the runes on the obelisk before in an old book in the area that is now our capital..”

“So, that’s where we look next?” I jumped to the obvious conclusion.

Soranir sighed again.

“I wish it was that easy. You see, we had to have the most experienced translators of the city work on it all night. This book is two thousand years old, give or take a few centuries. Now, remember that these notes called the other book old.”

“Crap,” I let out.

“Exactly. We could be looking at hundreds to thousands of years. The capital city wasn’t a thing back then. In fact, the Elves had barely established their first settlements at the time. It doesn’t specify what language the other book was written in, I don’t suppose I have to list all the other problems when it comes to a search like this, do I?”

“I can imagine,” I said with a sigh of my own.

“All I can hope for is that it was somehow preserved and ended up in the royal library in the capital. I’ve already prepared for some librarians and translators to move there and search for it. One issue is that the king and queen may have to be informed in order for them to gain access to the restricted parts of the archives.”

“If there’s no other way…” I said, not entirely happy about these latest events. “Then I suppose there’s no way around it.”

“Sorry about that,” He said. “I know your desire to keep this information to as few people as possible.”

“It’s the king,” I said. “If he needs to know, he needs to know. Hell, if there’s anyone that knows, it should probably be him. I just pray I won’t get into trouble.”

“I can assure you, you won’t, but your worry is understandable. I’ll try to keep the message I send him to a minimum. My seal should convey enough information. If he requires more than that, he’ll send a message back, and we can always have a look at things then.”

“Thank you,” I said politely. I admired the care that the mayor was showing.

After those words, he stood up from his chair and nodded.

“Keelarin, Lilinia, thank you for your hospitality, as per usual. I’ll go and write a letter and start gathering historians to try to get a better idea of where this tome can be found, or where other ancient texts might be stored. Kealyna,” he paused. “I’ll notify you first as soon as I have anything.”

“Alright,” I said, nodding. “Good luck. I hope you’ll be able to find something.”

“I’m sure we’ll find at least something. Don’t you worry. This one still has a few tricks up his sleeve.”

I smiled widely as he whistled, calling his horse to him, and mounted the steed. He waved at each of us and ran off, in his usual hurry.

“Well,” I commented. “I was hoping for more, but I’ll take what I can get.”

“Not much to do about it,” My father replied. “You’re doing what you can, and you have other things to focus on. Looks to me that your story is in good hands with Soranir.”

“Looks that way,” I said with a smile. “You wanna hear about our dungeon adventure?”

“We’d love to,” My mother said. “But first, would you like something to eat? I imagine you’re hungry after fighting for a while.”

Cellestra nodded where I shook my head, causing my mom to giggle as she stood up and walked inside.

“Will you be joining us again for dinner tonight?” My father asked.

“Cellestra?” I called her name. “I think we will, right? As long as it’s no problem.”

She nodded.

“It never is,” My father spoke with a chuckle. “You’re always welcome to stay here and have whatever you need.”

“I know. I do think we’ll head to the forest in a bit and rest. I don’t think Cellestra has much more life in her.”

She nodded slowly in affirmation of my words and finally relieved herself of her helmet, revealing her fatigued expression.

Poor Cellestra. She still had a ways to go. I reckoned all my running and turning in the dungeon hadn’t really helped her.

My mother returned with sandwiches for Cellestra, which she quietly nommed down while I eagerly told my parents about our adventurers in the dungeon. I explained what the creatures were that we fought in great detail, but went through things as quickly as I could, so I kept the fights short.

After I told them about our fight with the tree monsters, it was my dad who asked about what I imagined had been painstakingly obvious from the start.

“What is with those spikes?” he said, pointing to my legs.

“It’s from that lizard creature I mentioned earlier,” I said, deciding to open the book about this. I mean, Selleron already knew about it, or I expected him to. He was a smart man. He had seen what happened. I didn’t see a reason for my parents to not know about it. I trusted they knew how to deal with this sensitive, personal information.

“I think I should finally mention the ability my blessing gives me…” I said softly. “If I eat creatures that I kill, there’s a chance I can acquire an ability of that creature. It’s how I can grow stronger.”

“That’s crazy…” Was all my mother managed to produce with a wide-open mouth.

My father didn’t even reply, but the look on his face said the same as my mother’s spoken words.

“Yeah. It is,” I said quietly. “I hope you know this is sensitive information.”

I knew they knew, but I figured I should mention it anyway. They nodded, and their eyes told me they understood as well as they could.

“So yeah. I hope that explains some of my drive to delve into these dungeons.”

My mother nodded and my father followed shortly thereafter. Cellestra finished her food, we thanked my parents as we decided to part ways for a bit so the brunette could recover some of her strength, but we would return later in the afternoon to spend some time with them and Elira, and of course, have dinner.

“You okay?” I asked her on the way. “Exactly how much mana have you spent?”

“Almost all,” She admitted with a chuckle.

“I can see that,” I replied with a giggle of my own.

“Nothing a nap won’t fix.”

“A nap sounds lovely. I might join you in that.”

Cellestra giggled. “Yeah. that would be lovely.”