Chapter 318: Shaky Reunion
-----Yui's POV
With Mai's sudden arrival today, we all gathered around for Kaede's expected return. Even her mother came by as we all waiting in Kaede's place. Leon still hasn't woken up, but he did manage to drink some of the soup Lillian had made. But now isn't the time to be worrying about Leon, right now, all I want is to give Kaede a massive hug, and it looks like Mell is just as eager.
And then, after some time, Mai finally returns. However, Kaede quickly face planted onto the floor as she fell from Mai's back as soon as they appeared. But what was more surpassing was that Mai had with her two more people. One of them seemed familiar, looking to be Neri in her black get-up. But she also had with her someone with light purple skin, something I've never seen before. Kaede said she needed a dark elf, so I take it that this is the person?
Mell: "Mom!"
Mell ends up beating me to it, running straight to Kaede who has just now gotten up from the floor. I don't mind though, I'm just happy seeing her back in one piece.
Lillian: "You actually managed to grab one, huh?"
Kaede: "Hmm?"
Lifting her head up from her hug with Mell, Kaede looks at Lillian before following her gaze to the dark elf who has just been standing there, looking to be completely out of place in this environment. But funny enough, I think I'm the odd one out here.
Kaede: "Oh, yeah. Guys, this is Rina. She'll be helping me with mom."
Sicily: "You could've stole someone better than this. This girl is just a baby."
Baby? She doesn't look like one to me, but I guess maybe their talking about their age? I'm aware elves have much longer life spans, so maybe Rina would be considered a baby? I don't see it though, she looks to be in her twenties.
Rina: "U-Uhm."
Kaede: "For the record, I did not "steal" Rina. She came here willingly."
Sicily: "Really? I find that hard to believe."
Kaede: "Well, it's true. Thanks again, Rina."
Rina: "N-no problem."
Seems as though Sicily and Lillian aren't taking Rina too kindly, but I hope that will soon pass. Thinking of wanting her to be a bit more comfortable, I end up walking over to her before extending a hand out to her.
Yui: "Thank you for coming."
She slowly takes my hand as I put on a big smile on my face before shaking her hand. Even if she did come here willingly, I can tell that she would prefer going back. But with Kaede having won the battle, I'm sure there's no where for her to go, huh. Speaking of which, I take a moment to pull Kaede into an embrace after giving my thanks to Rina. her embrace immediately puts me at ease as the corners of my mouth slowly rise into a soft smile.
Kaede: "I'm back."
Yui: "Mm. Welcome home."
...
We end up moving into the lounge as Lillian and Neri end up heading into the kitchen. I sat next to Kaede, making for a good opportunity for us to feel eachother's warmth once more. Rina sat on the other side of Kaede, leaving Mell to sit on my other side instead. It makes me happy in knowing that I've now reached the point of being Mell's number 2 in these situations.
Kaede: "Okay, so! Rina, this here is my mother."
Lilith: "Pleasure to meet you."
Rina: "Y-yes. Likewise."
Kaede: "Rina. Like I said, I need your help with my mom."
Rina: "Well, she looks fine... But."
Looks as though Rina has sensed that something's wrong with Lilith judging from her perturbed look, but it doesn't look like she can pin-point exactly what it is.
Kaede: "Could you show her your back, mom?"
At Kaede's request, Lilith turns her back towards us before lifting up her shirt, exposing her back to us. Just like before, the mana-sealing crest is still there, faintly glowing periodically.
Rina: "What? What is this?"
Kaede: "It's a crest that traps one's mana."
Sicily: "Yeah. And we heard that you darks have a way to deal with such a thing."
Rina: "I-I don't know what you're talking about. I've never seen this kind of magic before."
At Rina's words, Sicily visibly got annoyed, looking to be wanting to already get in a fight with Rina. But in this situation, she just remains seated.
Rina: "I'm sorry."
Kaede: "But I hear you do have a way to help? Something about a type of magic that's special to dark elves?"
Rina: "You mean how we absorb mana directly from the trees? That won't help with... This."
If Rina came here willingly and wanting to help, I don't think she'd come here and lie to us. This whole idea was just a shot in the dark, so an outcome like this was to be expected.
Kaede: "But it might help, right?"
Rina: "Help?"
Kaede: "Yeah... Helping for... When we cut off that crest."
The room immediately felt heavy at Kaede's words as Rina's left being the only one to be visibly concerned. We all knew about this plan, but Rina is just now hearing it for the first time. It's looks as though she's witnessing a murder or something; which might not be entirely wrong.
Rina: "You mean to carve out the entire crest?"
Kaede: "Correct."
Rina: "I... That's..."
Insane? Crazy? Yeah...
Lilith: "It's okay. If you can't help, then-"
Rina: "No! Well... I can try. But if you're planning on going through this plan, then we'll need to do it in a forest."
Yui: "We have trees here. Can't we just use them?"
Rina: "Yes, but it'll be a lot weaker and unstable. A forest will have a lot more pure mana, with many roots spreading all across the forest. It'll be our best chance."
Sicily: "That'll be sure to attract monsters."
Kaede: "Then we can help defend while we cut off the crest."
Rina: "I'll need to be present and keeping contact with your mother, so that would help."
A sudden question floats into my head after hearing all of this. And it's arguably the most important question of all.
Yui: "Wait. So then who'll be the one to cut off the crest?"
Everyone: "..."
But just as I brought it up, everyone went silent, as they were all probably thinking of how they'd actually go about doing such a task.
Kaede: "...Yui."
It was Kaede who spoke up first as she turned her face towards me before taking both my hands in her own.
Kaede: "Could you do it?"
Yui: "What?!"
Kaede: "You're skill with the blade, right? I would think that you'd be best suited for it."
I can't argue about that, but killing monsters with my rapier and doing something as delicate as carving a crest off of Lilith's back... I feel as though they aren't one in the same at all here.
Lillian: "I can help you."
It was then that Lillian and Neri both came back to join us, bringing with them some tea and snacks. The tea's aroma did help brighten up this now dreary atmosphere that has clouded over me, but her words do leave with some more issues. I don't want to just shove such a heavy responsibility onto her just because I'm afraid.
Yui: "You don't have to-"
Lillian: "It's important we get that crest off as fast as possible, right? With another hand, we can get it done fast and heal her back."
Ah, so she just simply meant to help me and not take over. I guess she does have a point with it not taking as long, but that only brings up more issues. Like what if one of us cuts in the wrong place and screws up the other person? Not to mention that Lilith will be screaming and squirming in pain, making the job that much harder.
Kaede: "You sure you can do it?"
Lillian: "I've gotten pretty skilled with a knife now. So I can try."
Sicily: "Then what about me?"
Lillian: "...I think you should keep watch, sis."
Sicily: "Fine~"
With Lillian taking a stab at Sicily, it did help to lighten up the mood just a bit more as I find myself smiling at the two of them.
Kaede: "Okay then! So Sicily and I will be on the lookout. Yui and Lillian will be carving out mom's crest. Rina will be assisting us with magic, and-"
Lilith: "I... I guess I'll try my best?"
Kaede: "..."
And just like that. The dreary atmosphere slowly seeps back into the room. Kaede sat up before quickly bringing her mom into a hug. I can feel the nerves from here... Sure we can plan everything out like this, but it'll all be for nothing if Lilith doesn't survive this. We're talking about ripping off her entire back here, of course Kaede would be stressed out about doing such a thing to her own mother. Kaede doesn't say anything and just continues to hug her mom in front of all of us, leaving all of us to also remain in silence.
Kaede: "...This is going to work."
Lilith: "Mm."
Kaede: "This HAS to work."
Lilith: "Mm. I believe in you."
Their hug continues as they tighten their embrace with each other. If Leon was awake then we'd have two light magic users to try and heal Lilith after the crest is off, but it doesn't look like Leon is waking up anytime soon. And there's also the fact that his mana is extremely limited now, so he might actually be useless now that I think about it. But I guess for now, we'll just stay here until Kaede and Lilith are ready.
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