In A Noble Magic Academy, The Only Spell I Know Is Scan

True to his word, Roko arrived at the party during the latter half, close to when the switch in guests were supposed to happen. When he arrived, there were a few elves remaining though they seemed to be pretty much finished with the party. The princesses and their knights had all arrived much earlier than him and was scattered about the party hall, having discussions with important looking elves. Much of them kept to the side, leaving the dance floor open for anyone to use though it seemed pretty unused to begin with. The celebrating was not as important as the cerebral conversations to the elves it seems.

"Ah good, Roko. You've arrived."

Rivera glided down to him on a gorgeous party dress that left almost nothing to the imagination. Carrying two glasses of what Roko hoped was cider.

"A toast." River handed one of the glasses to him, "To celebrate all that we've accomplished."

"Do you normally ambush people with a toast at the door?" Roko said as he clinked glasses with the queen and took a sip of what turned out to be a sort of fruit punch.

"Well, I figured you were going to be so busy that I should get my business done first."

"You clearly haven't seen me at parties."

"Well no, I haven't." Rivera said plainly, "Regardless, I must thank you for...well a countless number of things to be honest. Your accomplishments may take the entire night to list out."

"You're exaggerating." Roko sipped his drink again, "And I never would have gotten as far as I have without help, including from you. I would not have saved Reaumur if you hadn't enchanted that arrow for me."

"That was meant to be a key for the sanctuary lilies but you forced your way in regardless." Rivera frowned, "I would ask how you did that but..."

"Call it a trade secret for now. I'm still working out the specifics of this magic I'm developing."

"Very well." Rivera shrugged, "Though while we're on the subject of magic, the Mystic Transcriber is STILL open to you if you want to figure out what sort of natural magic you have."

"You've been hyping this thing up pretty much ever since I got here." Roko replied, "Is it really that good?"

"Honestly, maybe not. You have your two signature spells, scan and analyze, so maybe you don't need anymore magic. Still, knowing for sure is valuable information and it doesn't exclude from learning new magic. There's really no harm in using it."

"Then I'll take you up on your offer." Roko replied, "I don't a reason to refuse your generosity, good queen."

"No, it is quite the honor on my part, good sir." Rivera said, catching onto Roko's tinge of false politically cordial tone, "I'll have the process ready by tomorrow morning. Do stop by when you're ready. Now, I shall release you onto the party floor so you may enjoy yourself."

"I'm sure I will."

"Let's see you cut up the dance floor sometime, why don't we?" Rivera sneered as she floated away.

"That's never going to happen." Roko called.

Having gone to more parties since arriving in this world than he ever did back in his modern world, Roko has developed a sort of plan for how to enjoy himself at these social events. And that was to beeline to the food desks and stick around there until someone bothered to talk to him. Just because he was in a new world doesn't mean he's become any more social. The princesses however, were quite busy entertaining guests of their own. Various elves were gathered around each of them, discussing vaguely political things or so Roko assumed. Unfortunately for him though, much of the food was gone at this point so Roko was left to pick up what scraps were left.

"The buffet will get refilled once the dark elves arrive." Brook said as she walked up behind Roko in full assassin gear and Klaus walking proudly besides her.

"I figured." Roko said as he munched on some soggy roasted vegetables, "Are you okay with attending the party in that garb though? That doesn't look comfortable."

"I'm used to it." Brook said as she removed her mask, "The days of lavish party dresses are long behind me. This is more comfortable for me."

"You sure? Your mom might think otherwise."

"Yes, well, I'm afraid I'm never going to have the figure that my mom has." Brook scowled.

"I mean, there's still time for you." Roko shrugged, "And I was talking about how she let you attend this party so openly to begin with. Surely something has changed with your circumstances to allow you to take part in this party."

"Well..." Brook sighed, "This certainly is the first time I've been allowed to attend a party in a while. Normally I wouldn't even be allowed to attend the dark elf portion of the party. For a long time I was restrained to my room, never to leave lest the truth leaks out. It was a miserable time but my mom eventually started to teach me all this assassination stuff and it became my new job to help Granreveria from the shadows. I...thought that would be my life for a while. I never imagined I'd be able to do something like attend a party again. Not without a target in mind anyway."

"With your new position as ambassador, you'll probably start seeing the public more often now."

"Maybe with the dark elves." Brook crossed her arms, "The elves here still don't know about what happened to me."

"I'm sure some people have some idea of what happened to you. I wouldn't be surprised if sometime soon, rumors of you having been turned into a dark elf spread. Once that idea gets seeded well enough, your return will be much easier for people to accept. In theory anyway."

"You think?"

"I mean, that's how I would do things. It would certainly be much harder to do something like look for a cure with things as they are now."

"A cure." Brook shook her head, "With all that we learned from the past, is that even possible?"

"I can't imagine it's possible." Roko answered, "From what it seems, the elven race has been magically modified to turn into dark elves under certain conditions. Everyone that has been born and ever will be born. The only way I can see to change this is if we somehow entered the Tree Cradle somehow and changed the data on the core. Which is now integrated with the tree so..."

"There truly might be a better chance of dark elves and normal elves reconciling than fixing the genetic modification that causes ebonization at this point." Brook sighed.

"On that topic, there is something I wanted to ask you on that subject."

"What is it?"

"Like Helena pointed out, elves that betray elvenkind could be liable to transforming into a dark elf. Do you remember if you considered destroying elvenkind before turning into a dark elf?"

"..." Brook silently contemplated her words. Not trying to remember if she recalled any such moment but how best to phrase what it was she wanted to say, "...When my mom forbade me from interacting with Gareth, I did consider leaving her and escaping to live with Gareth's family. But if that did happen, my mom might just start a war to get me back. It would jeopardize the relationship Gareth's family had with the elves so even if Gareth would fight for me, I couldn't be sure his family would side with us too. But...if they did choose to side with me...I would've fought my mom. I would have fought all of elvenkind to stay with Gareth."

"..."

"But in the end, I couldn't bring myself to do that to Gareth or my mom." Brook sighed, "That was something I thought for a while. My ebonization was probably sometime in the middle of those thoughts."

"I see." Roko nodded, "That's insightful. Thank you."

"This is supposed to be a party, why am I going into something as depressing as this?" Brook scowled as she put her mask back on, "Go talk with your princesses next time."

"They seem to be busy right now so I'll just wait." Roko said as he scratched Klaus on the head, "Not like I'm going anywhere."

"If you did leave early, you'd probably piss off all of them."

"The perils of having powerful friends." Roko sighed.

"Well, you could always just become as powerful as them. Then you can do whatever you want."

"And how do you propose I do that?"

"Funny that you mention proposing."

"NO."

"Aw come on. You've got some pretty good choices."

"NO!"

"Ah, you're right. We all already know you're gonna marry-"

"Get out!" Roland pointed away from him, anywhere really for Brook to walk away while chuckling to herself.

Having gotten her bit of snarky revenge, Roko was finally left to finish his meal of leftovers. A meal that he had mostly filled himself with until, much to his dismay, the sun set, the elves left and the dark elves arrived. Quite a large party of dark elves actually and there were even a good number of elves that remained. Not nearly as much as the dark elves that arrived and some of them Roko suspected were simply finishing up their conversations before leaving but it was still a significant mix. And the food table was completely refilled with a new buffet that looked delectable but Roko had already filled up on scraps so he wouldn't be able to immediately dive into the fresh foods. He also got some new company for him to speak with.

"Hey Roko!" Reaumur greeted him in...what seemed like a party dress but also included things like gauntlets and combat boots. Even her jewelry was just set on top of leather pieces, embedded with different types of small gems to look pretty in lieu of a more processed and cut gem to serve as a centerpiece.

"Hey Reaumur." Roko nodded as the dark elves approached him, "Drift. Ohm. I see even Romer is here today."

"Well, I've been busy with teaching the dark elf troops the things I learned from training the elven soldiers." Romer nodded as he fixed the collar on the white armor that Rivera had given him, "That said, I don't think I could've helped much in your recent adventures."

"Maybe in the last battle with the undead we could've used you but that was an unexpected battle so it's not like we could've prepared for it." Roko shrugged, "If anything, I should be thanking you for letting me borrow your daughter for the reconstruction efforts."

"That was my daughter's own whims." Romer chuckled, "She enjoys your company quite a bit. Speaks quite often and quite positively of you."

"D-Dad!" Reaumur yelped, drawing a hearty laugh from her father.

"She was quite eager to see your reaction to her dress too! Well? What do you think?"

"It's certainly very interesting." Roko replied as he looked over Reaumur's attire, "It's more modest than the party dresses I've seen so far, though I haven't seen a lot of party dresses that include gauntlets and combat boots."

"Hahaha, They're not as fancy as elven dresses but this is practically the height of party fashion in dark elf society." Drift explained.

"To be more accurate, we don't really have anything like party dresses." Ohm explained further, "We just show up in whatever we want. This is just what we usually do for fancy parties with other races. At least...that's what we were told."

"It's certainly unique and quite eye-catching." Roko replied, "The elves may trend more sleek but this kind of style does remind me of certain fashion trends in my old world. It's charming."

"Really?!" Reaumur's eyes practically glowed with happiness, "Wow, I wonder what the dark elves of your world are like!"

"Uhhh...yeah..." Roko sipped his fruit punch.

"You do anything since coming here?" Ohm asked curiously.

"Well I spoke with the queen and her princess." Roko sighed, "That's about it."

"You haven't talked with your other princess friends?"

"Look at them. They're busy talking with other elves and soon dark elves. There isn't room for me to pop in anywhere."

"Why are you acting like a stranger?" Reaumur blinked, "Just go up and talk to them. I'm sure some of them would appreciate getting rescued from their boring politics talk."

"Some of them might appreciate that but I'm busy."

"Eating?" Drift frowned.

"Nothing else to do here."

"You don't know how to party do you?" Ohm chuckled.

"Haven't been to many. What do you usually do?"

"Well, we're going to open up this dance floor with some unique dark elf party tunes!" Ohm said enthusiastically, "Well...assuming the queen is okay with it."

"It's your party, so I don't see why she wouldn't be okay with it."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence! We'll start setting up near the back now."

"Let's dance together once we get everything setup Roko!" Reaumur called as she walked away.

"Reaumur, we need you to DJ."

"What?! Aw man..."

And so Roko was left all alone again. Still, he was kept entertained by the dark elves bustling about to set up their music equipment before busting out loud club music that felt completely at odds with the classy ballroom aesthetics of the elven event hall. The remaining elves were deeply perturbed and a good number of them left but the ones who remained seemed to start to get in the mood of the dark elves' style of partying. Though most of them remained in the side, watching rather than joining in with the dark elves setting the dance floor on fire...figuratively. The dark elves weren't quite keen on interacting with the elves either. The two races felt like they were watching each other from their own glass boxes, willing to show support to the other but never truly mingling.

Roko sat aside from the rest of the party. Finally abandoning the food table after having his share of the new dishes, Roko simply retired to the sidelines where he would never be bothered by the busy party goers. Only by the not busy party goers.

"Hello, Roko."

"Hello, Polaris." Roko looked up as the lich turned leader floated down to meet him, "Nice to see you found time away from your precious Brook to meet me."

"Hahaha...whatever do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb. If the dark elves arrived, then you as their leader should've arrived at the same time. The fact that you weren't must've meant that you were distracted. And Brook was nowhere to be found either so it doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened."

"Ever so clever." Polaris chuckled with a hint of awkwardness.

"Praise is wasted on someone like me." Roko sipped his fruit punch, "Is there something you wanted from me?"

"That depends on you. I've naturally come to extend my thanks for your efforts. Without you and your friends, this level of coexistence would never have been possible."

"I did nothing to deserve your thanks. This never would have started if the dark elves I met all that time ago wasn't good-natured enough to lend a hand during the orc raid. That's where it all started. What made this all possible."

"The first step doesn't preclude the efforts of every step after it. You've been there every step of the way to bring us together. So if there's anything you want, any information or request you have, I'd be happy to hear it."

"Well...not for myself technically..." Roko said, "But Helena has made the observation that dark elves are turned from elves that has chosen to betray elvenkind. Brook has said some things to that degree as well. What do you think as our foremost expert on dark elves?"

"Hmmm..." Polaris stroked his chin curiously, "I've had plenty of time to read your reports on the far far elven past. It's an extremely intriguing read but it doesn't really explain the mechanics of ebonization does it? Elves that have chosen to betray elvenkind huh? It may explain the change but it can't apply to all of the dark elves."

"Why not?"

"Simple. Dark elves bear dark elf children. Those children were born in that race, done nothing to change into what they are. Reaumur, Ohm and Drift are such kind of children. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Romer and even more dark elves were natural dark elves. No matter the past, the dark elves are well and truly a real race now."

"I see."

"As for your theory, all I can say is that it's plausible. But it doesn't make a difference to elven relationships. Once they integrate into dark elf society, there should be no way to tell between those who were born and those that were turned."

"I'm sure there's bound to be a few that would research the past of a dark elf to determine their origin. If this distinction becomes significant, the best that would happen is a third party emerges. One that turns against those that had gone through ebonization. At worst, dark elves could start rejecting former elves in order to appease the elves as a compromise."

"That would only make things more confusing." Polaris shook his head, "If we want to avoid this then perhaps this information shouldn't be shared?"

"Well, it's currently only a theory though with surprisingly credible sources. And as it stands currently, the topic doesn't seem to have much interest from the relevant parties. Even if the information comes out, so long as it remains a theory, it's not going to cause much of a stir."

"True. Though, do you think this information should really be let out in the open? The rest of the elven world isn't getting along quite as well as our little forest here."

"Helena wouldn't leave it out even if you asked her. More importantly than keeping potentially dangerous information out, wouldn't it be better to spread news of your reconciliations? The threat of this information will mean nothing so long as you can still represent a unity that defies the separation it might cause."

"...You think I...we can achieve that?"

"Helena's report won't come out until she submits it once she's back in Memoria Auspice. So you still have a few months at least. Maybe that's not a lot of time to long life species like you but you at least have two really good examples of said unity."

"Are you talking about us?" Mistral asked as she arrived with Treesa next to her, "Cause I agree if that's the case."

"I don't." Treesa growled, "And how long do you plan on sticking around?! Aren't you a doctor?! Don't you have patients to take care of?!"

"Did you not see how empty the medical tent was last time? We dark elves are expert hunters. We don't get injuries that often."

"Is that a fact?" Treesa scoffed, "Because that sounds like something from one of Vine's novels again."

"You two are acquainted with Vine?" Roko asked, mildly surprised.

"Dark elves don't have much in the way of literature so I brought Mistral over to a few of our elven libraries." Treesa explained.

"Things get boring reading just medical reports so I've been looking for a good book to fill in the dead space." Mistral shrugged, "Got into this series called Xanadu Xat Xenolith. Burned through them in only a few nights."

"Kept her quiet was what it did." Treesa muttered.

"Except a few issues were kinda hard to find." Mistral continued, "We went looking and couldn't find it until we ran into Vine in one of the bookstores. We started talking and when we mentioned our issues with the issues, she invited us to the royal library where she knew they had those issues."

"Ended up starting an impromptu book club." Treesa sighed, "Even roped me into it."

"Wasn't it exciting to read about torrid love lives that were worse than your own?"

"Hahaha, you should be thankful for every second you still breathe while next to me."

"Yeah. Yeah it was." Mistral said unbothered by Treesa vague threat of death, "Not much was going on with all the humans gone anyway. What else were you going to do? Hang out with Spark?"

"Where is the manfailure anyway?" Roko said, quickly directing the question away from the seething rage building up inside Treesa, "Is he not showing up?"

"He's picking up some food for the two of us." Mistral replied, "We would've showed up earlier but we had a book club meeting with Vine and tried to convince her to go to the party too but she said she had to man the library no matter what with Branch gone."

"Where did Branch go?" Polaris asked.

"He's been over there with flowers in his hands a few feet away from Corissa." Roko answered, "Been working up the courage to talk to her since I arrived here."

"Wow, what a loser." Treesa said.

"Are there no good men nowadays?" Mistral sighed as she shook her head.

"I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with that statement." Roko stated.

"Same here." Polaris added.

"Hey, treat Brook right and we won't have to add you to the list." Treesa winked mischievously.

"And Roko. You haven't upset any women recently have you?" Mistral asked knowingly.

"Uhhh...no..."

"That right?"

"Well, we'll leave it to one of your princesses to speak on that front." Treesa said, "We're going to go check up on Spark."

"I'll uhh...check up on Brook." Polaris said, the powerful undead lich visibly shaken by the snarky women's feisty comments.

And so Roko was left alone once more. Though for how long this time?

"Ahhhh, finally free from all that talk." Helena said loudly as she approached Roko about 5 minutes after his last groups of guests, "Hey Roko. You seem to be busy tonight."

"Not as busy as you all." Roko replied, "You've been practically swamped with guests the whole night."

"Ever since we walked in here." Helena nodded, "Lots of boring political exchanges. Won't bore you with the details."

"Have you had some of the new food?" Roko asked, "Lots of new dishes came out. You must be hungry after all that socializing."

"Yeah, I might just take a plate as soon as I'm done here."

"Here?"

Roko looked up, confused until Helena reached out and put a stern hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know what happened between you and Corissa but it's time to fix it."

"I...didn't do anything." Roko looked away guiltily.

"If you're so innocent why do you look so guilty?" Helena said squeezing his shoulder with terrifying grip strength, "What better time to apologize then in the middle of a nice ball?"

"I think it'll be fine if we just give her some time."

"Oh I'm sure it will. But do you really want to push all the responsibility and guilt for resolving your spat onto someone else? Someone as nice as Corissa too?"

"..."

"Come on." Helena insisted as she practically lifted Roko from his chair with her one arm, "I'll even set the mood for you."

"Setting the mood" apparently meant throwing him in Corissa's direction as she walked off to the music stage. Even as she was preparing, Roko could still feel her eyes burning accusingly at his back. So Roko began taking tentative steps towards the princess.

Corissa's entourage was by far the largest of anybody in the room. Many had come and many had left but she remained surrounded by people eager to talk to her or even just to gaze upon her beauty. Elves and dark elves alike were smitten with her. Her charm, elegance, novelty and experiences made her a very coveted partner. There wasn't an easy way to approach. She was just surrounded by men. Even some women. Not wanting to interrupt, Roko stood there for a few minutes, waiting for the crowd to dissipate even a little. When that didn't happen, he found himself wandering back to the food table to nibble at some scraps. It wasn't long before he was smacked upside the head by a furious Helena.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"She's busy." Roko replied simply.

"So?!"

"Well I don't want to interrupt..."

Helena rolled her eyes and stormed off towards Corissa, speaking loudly about how she must be hungry after talking for so long or tired from standing for so long and that she deserved a small break, practically chasing everyone around her away and telling them to come again later. With the coast cleared, Helena moved threateningly towards Roko and motioned for him to move in. Left with no other choice, Roko went to talk with the princess that had been talking all night.

Corissa had taken a seat by the side, much like Roko had before he was ejected. The fatigue of the night had clearly taken it's toll on her, she probably had no chance for rest at all. Roko considered grabbing some food or drink for her but he knew if he returned to the food table again Helena would kill him. So Roko swallowed his pride and approached the young girl.

"May I have this dance?"

Corissa looked up, smile at the ready to greet her new guest but when she realized it was Roko, she quickly shifted expressions to an angry pout and turned her head away, cute hmph and all. There was a flash of guilt in the middle of the change, so short and imperceptible that once could have written it off as a trick of the light. That guilt inspired a pang of Roko's own guilt for the situation so he resolved to try and set things right. Although...he wasn't quite sure how to proceed. He hadn't really given it much thought besides his opener.

Roko just laughed nervously as he slowly withdrew his hand, unsure of his next move. He scratched his head and just said what he was there for even if he still didn't believe it was necessary.

"I've come to apologize."

One of Corissa's eyes opened curiously, not to look at Roko but to look over their surroundings, at the people and elves who were eyeing them curiously and starting to speak in unfriendly tones. Corissa sighed and stood up, taking Roko's hand and guiding him to the empty dance floor. Placing their hands against each other's backs, the two began a small waltz, unaware of what the dark elves were actually playing. Roko had never actually waltzed before so he just focused on trying to not step on Corissa's toes.

"And?" Corissa asked, mustering up all her acting skills to sound as irate as Helena sometimes was with Roland, "What are you apologizing about?"

"I might've said some things that upset you and I'm sorry about that. I don't want you to be angry at me all the time."

"You're not sorry at all for what you actually said are you?" Corissa sighed very crossly.

"Ahahaha..."

The two waltzed for a bit in silence until Corissa's face softened as she replied, "I know I can't do everything like you can. Maybe it wasn't entirely your genius that I was jealous of but also your freedom."

Roko constructed a response denying the "genius" bit but it never made it out of his mouth.

"I can help more people than you can but I can't...grow close to them. I can help everyone but I can't help just anyone. There's a distance. Always a distance. Between me and everyone. I can't ever form bonds the same way as you do."

"..." Roko sighed, "I don't try to form bonds. That's not to say I don't want to but when I help people, I don't expect to get anything out of it. Friendships just aren't transactional like that."

"...Maybe it's not transactional because you refuse to buy into it." Corissa muttered.

"What was that?"

"All I'm saying is that maybe people DO want to be friends with you. It's just YOU who doesn't want to be friends where everyone else does. Think about it. Helping people means being exposed to a more sensitive side of a person. You might even learn something personal about them. After something like that, becoming their friend is the least you can do, even if it's just to help assure that you won't leak what you learned about them in the process of helping them."

"That's..." Roko frowned, "...different..."

"If two friendly people sharing a similarity aren't friends then what are they?" Corissa, "Roko, maybe the reason you don't have many friends is because whenever someone tries to become friends with you, you drop the ball."

"...How is this relevant again?" Roko growled.

"Hahaha. I just think more people want to be your friend than you think. And unlike me, you can close that distance if you just tried."

"I think I'm making friends just fine on my own." Roko scoffed.

"Mmhmm..." Corissa replied knowingly (of what Roko wasn't sure), "Well, that's just what you're like Roko. And...I don't want to change you too badly...and I want to let you do what you want to do. But I also...really don't want to lose you. You're one of the first friends I've actually made in a long time. I know you have your reasons but I'm just...scared..."

Roko looked down at the shivering princess. There was a part of him that felt bad, certainly, but there was a greater part of him that thought that all he achieved with his life on the line was worth more than one girl's worries. It was coldly logical of him and his reasons were equally utilitarian. But his life was the only thing he was readily willing to sacrifice. Not his relationships. So the boy asked,

"Anything I can do to make you feel better?"

"..." Corissa was silent for a moment, thinking quietly as she continued to waltz flawlessly. Roko continued to struggle his way through waltzing, hoping he was doing well enough for Corissa to not notice his inexperience. This worry distracted him enough that when Corissa spoke again, he was mildly surprised by it's resumption, "Roko...you aren't doing this to find a time and place where you can die right?"

Roko hesitated for a split second. A bit of that statement rung true with him but it was a part that felt alien to him. An...uncomfortable truth that he wasn't ready to acknowledge. Doubly so at this moment. So he pushed it aside as he answered with a true enough statement, "No. Of course not."

Corissa seemed to believe him as she took a deep breath before continuing, "Then...I want you to promise one thing."

"What is it?"

"If you ever do die...I want you to do everything you can to come back to me."

…

"Even if there's nothing I can do?" Roko asked.

"Yep." Corissa nodded.

The ridiculousness of the promise was not lost on either of them. But that was fine. There was no need for reconciliation. Neither did anything wrong. Neither needed nor wanted the other to stop. They understood each other, they had always understood the other. All they needed was just accept each other again.

"Heh. Alright." Roko said, amused, "If I die then I'll do my best to preform one more miracle and come back to you."

"Good!" Corissa smiled her smile that could brighten a room, "Then it's fine."

Roko breathed a sigh of relief. Genuine relief. In comparison, Corissa was practically bouncing with joy. Maybe to her the past turmoil was nothing now that they've made peace but Roko was still sweating from the possibility that he might've never repaired the relationship. Perhaps life would be easier if he was as carefree as Corissa. Roko wasn't sure how possible that was but he could try to relax a little. So he pulled his thoughts away from his regrets and focus a little on the waltz he still wasn't good out, a haven he'd been to several times now. Then he heard what song was playing right now.

"Sha la la la la la, Don't be scared. You've got the mood prepared. Go on and kiss the girl."

"You can't play that!" Roko shouted at the snickering Djs, "That's copyrighted!"

"Morning."

"Morning."

"Well, don't you look like a million bucks." Rivera said as Roko arrived at the Mystic Transcriber looking miserable.

"Didn't get much sleep after the party." Roko yawned, "I didn't think we were going to party til the sun rose."

"Should've left early." Rivera sneered, "That's what I did. Though I suppose the heroes of two countries can't leave as easily as I can."

"And you're the queen of one of those countries."

"Well, I just left the oversight of the party to Brook."

"Must be nice to be able to use your daughter as a princess again."

"All thanks to you, I must add." Rivera smirked, "You've done so much in such a short time. Tell me, what's next on your list?"

"Honestly? Just buckle down and study magic like I came here to do." Roko sighed, "There shouldn't be any further issues to complicate my stay here so with a little luck, I'll pass the remaining year I'm here without any trouble."

"You think that'll happen?"

"Not if Helena has anything to say about it."

"To be fair, I don't see her starting an international conflict that you'd have to fix."

"You'd think so given her position as a princess but honestly it's a toss up if that happens or not."

"Well, we can only hope and pray that things stay peaceful." Rivera nodded, "Now, how about that Mystic Transcriber?"

"Alright." Roko looked at the strange sort of chamber made out of tree roots and green panes of glass they've been standing in front of, "I just have to go in there?"

"Yes."

"Will this hurt?"

"Depends on how you react to it. Some don't feel anything, some get a moderate feeling of stinging pain. But overall it shouldn't hurt that much. If nothing else, I'd take a deep breath right before everything starts moving. Wouldn't do to suffocate before it's over."

"That can happen? And you just allow that?"

"You think we use the Mystic Transcriber on just anybody? Just hold your breath and it'll all be over."

"All right." Roko sighed as he opened the door to the chamber and stepped inside, "Let's just get this over with it."