Frosk…
Before the entire Forrosan entourage was about to head back to the city of Alken, Azazel arrived to speak with him.
“Is there something wrong?” Frosk asked as he watched Camilla, Nashandra, and Moyako strangely enough, being escorted along with King Aldia.
Azazel shook his head and said, “Oh no, nothing of the sort.”
He paused for a moment as he looked around to make sure no one was listening before he continued, “The king is not yet aware of this, but it is to my knowledge that the Dark Elf woman Fayebel, is your child, correct?”
Frosk took in a sharp intake of breath at the mention of that and said, “Y-Yes…is that a problem?”
“Not at all. In fact, it is paramount that you attempt to build a strong and healthy relationship with her, and by extension, with King Rohen as well. By doing this, you can contribute to building a healthy diplomatic relationship between New Alfheim and Forrosa.”
Hearing this, Frosk felt nervous as he said, “I-I don’t know if I am really the right person to handle that kind of job. Also, I don’t have the faintest idea of what it’s like to be a father…are you really sure that I should be the one doing this?”
Azazel’s eyes narrowed with an air of seriousness as he said, “This is not a request Frosk. This is an order. Stay in Duranell, spend time with your child, and…try to relax a little while.”
“O-Of course sir…,” Frosk answered as he took in a deep breath as he was figuring out how to handle the situation.
Before Azazel was about to return with the rest of the entourage, he then said, “While you are with your daughter, be sure to aid her in Thalia Wright’s teachings. I’m certain that Marcus would appreciate to have another set of hands helping out his little sister.”
Upon hearing that, Frosk’s motivation skyrocketed as he said, “Of course sir!”
I’m being given such an important and impactful mission to assist in training the younger sister of our lord! This is a good chance to prove my worth!
Azazel then gave him a confused look but shook his head dismissively before he returned to the king’s side.
Moments passed as they gathered everyone who had attended the contest and vanished as they returned home.
The silence that followed their departure then filled him with a sense of clarity as he processed everything that he had been ordered to take care of.
“Why am I relying on Lord Azazel to help me in building a relationship with my own child…am I really that incompetent?” he asked himself aloud as he slowly made his way through town.
His mind was caught up in thinking through all the possible things he might say to his daughter once he saw her again that he barely noticed he had already arrived at the front door of Marcus’s house in no time at all.
He reached out his arm to knock on the door but hesitated as he was still unsure of what to say or how to act around Fayebel.
To calm himself and regain his composure, he took in a deep breath through his nose and knocked on the front door.
A few seconds passed as he waited for someone to come to the door, and sure enough, it flung open as his eyes fell upon a small child with bright icy blue eyes and black hair.
“Hello,” Thalia said as she greeted him at the door with a puzzled expression on her face.
“Uh, hi. Is Fayebel here?” he asked.
Thalia’s eyebrows raised at the mention of her name, and with an oddly suspicious tone of voice, she said, “Yes, she’s here. Why?”
“Well...I would like to speak with her, if that is alright with you,” Frosk asked patiently.
Thalia stared at him for a moment, almost as if she were sizing him up, before saying, “Wait here for a moment.”
Then she closed the door in his face and he was stuck waiting at the entrance for another minute until the door opened up again, yet it wasn’t Thalia or Fayebel who opened the door, but Alta instead.
“Ah...I see,” Alta said as he took one glance at him and figured out what was going on. He then looked back at Thalia, looked back at Frosk, then shrugged as he walked away from the door and said, “Come on in.”
The moment he walked inside, he was met with a bizarre interior as many of the objects inside were very unfamiliar to him and futuristic in nature.
“This must have been what Marcus was referring to when he first came to Alken…,” Frosk muttered to himself.
Thalia overheard him and asked, “What do you mean?”
“When Ruvick brought Marcus to Alken to attempt a business deal with the king, he spoke of technology from your world. Looking at these objects here, I take it that this is what he meant, but what do they do?” he asked as he stared at a large, rectangular object that stood up on a wooden table in the center wall of the living room.
Thalia then reached for a metal brick with labeled buttons that was left on the living room table and pressed one of them.
In an instant, the rectangular object, which was once black, lit up with bright lights like a picture being transmitted.
“Its a means of enjoying visual storytelling that’s not from a book or directly from another person,” Thalia explained.
“Is that its only function?” Frosk asked.
“No…but for now, its the easiest way to explain it to you without confusing you,” she said as she pressed the same button that activated it and it went black once again.
Thalia then walked over to the couch, patted one of the cushions, and said, “Just sit down and wait here a moment. I’ll go get Fayebel for you.”
She then walked over to a set of stairs and ran up them while he dropped onto the couch, sinking into it, and closing his eyes as he relaxed in its comfort.
Why don’t we have furniture this comfortable in Alken…? he mused to himself as he heard Thalia’s hurried footsteps followed by a second, almost hesitant set of footsteps going down the staircase.
Frosk opened his eyes as he turned his head to look at the top of stairwell, and there was Fayebel, staring down at him with the red eyes that she had inherited from him.
She seemed unsure of what to do or say upon seeing him, and there was even a hint of anger in her eyes, but she took in a deep breath as she walked down the rest of the stairs.
She then sat down on a chair next to the couch and looked at him silently.
Frosk leaned forward and opened his mouth to speak but Fayebel raised her hand to stop him as she asked, “Why did you come here Frosk?”
When she asked that, there was a hint of bitterness to her voice when she said his name that it made him flinch slightly.
A part of him wanted to hear her call him ‘Father’, but he knew that it was an unrealistic expectation to have of her right now.
“I…well, Lord Azazel ordered me to assist you in Thalia’s training and...I thought I might try and path things up with you while I’m at it,” he said, and although it was the truth, it wasn’t worded truthfully.
“Is that so…? Well, I appreciate the help, but I think I have it covered on my own,” she said with a harsh tone.
“I would like to train with you!” Thalia said from within the kitchen as she had been listening in on their conversation, much to Alta’s disapproval as he chastised her and ushered her into her room.
When Thalia’s bedroom door closed and Alta made his way upstairs to give the two of them privacy, Fayebel sighed as she said, “At the end of the day, Thalia is the boss. If she wants to train with you, I can’t very well tell her no. Your reputation as a warrior would make you a great teacher for her anyways, and what Thalia wants more than anything is to get stronger.”
“And yet…?” Frosk asked, urging Fayebel to finish her thought.
“‘And yet’, I don’t feel comfortable with you here. You are not the father that raised me, yet you are inserting yourself into my life after so many decades had already passed,” she said to him harshly and he looked away from her.
“I didn’t know until just recently. I hadn’t even considered that...that I had a child at all, much less with Lorra. The fact that you are here now, and that you are mine…I’m not sure of what to say,” he admitted.
He had no idea what he should say to her, or how to explain himself, yet he knew that he was just happy to see her.
When he looked back at her face, expecting a scowl or a glare, he was surprised to see that it had softened ever so slightly.
Taking notice that he was looking at her again, she turned away from him and sighed as she said, “Do you know what the situation with King Rohen is?”
A bit of small talk to move away from the topic hmm? Alright.
“Can’t say that I do. What is it?”
“King Rohen has been trying to convince Alta to take the throne after him and lead the kingdom so that he can finally step down and work on reforms without the Elder Council breathing down his neck,” she explained to him.
Frosk blinked as he remembered Lorra’s notes regarding the pressure the council was putting on Rohen. With the way things stood, the council held more authority over New Alfheim than the actual monarchy itself.
“Dorrin told me about that…He said that the Elvin council basically forced Lorra, along with many of the old Dark Elf warriors to fight and die in the Mordrinite War, right?”
Hearing that, Fayebel’s eyebrows narrowed in anger, but she didn’t look at him as she did, which made him think that the anger wasn’t directed at him for once.
“Exactly. King Rohen wants Alta to take his place so he can dismantle the Elder Council because he fears that their corruption isn’t just internal. He thinks that there might be a third party involved in influencing the choices made for New Alfheim,” she explained, very clearly feeling anger towards the council.
A third party…? That’s news to me.
“Does he have any theories as to who the third party is?” Frosk asked, genuinely interested in the conversation as he turned his entire body to face her directly.
Seeing this, Fayebel seemed hesitant to answer him, but if it distracted away from familial drama, then perhaps it could be a manner to bridge the gap between them.
“Well…some of Rohen’s scouts have told him that the Half Elf Freiren has been more active in the reserved lands. More Light Elves from all over the world have been coming out of hiding and congregating in reserved lands of New Alfheim. Not only that, but there was a report that Frieren had met with a Mordrinite in the last few years,” she said, then she looked around as if to make sure no one was listening as she continued, “He also wonders if King Arobynn and Queen Hylla were installed artificially through a third party. The only reason Rohen hasn’t been deposed is because the traditions of New Alfheim are strict in that a king of a royal line is absolutely necessary to maintain the leadership in the kingdom. If he were killed and replaced, the people would not tolerate it.”
“I see…,” Frosk said as he mulled over it.
“In fact, Rohen officially ordered me to train Thalia so that I could build up a relationship pipeline to Marcus Wright,” she said before she put her mouth over her hand as if she regretted saying that.
“I shouldn’t have said that…,” she said as her eyes widened.
“Ah...well, while we are on on that subject, part of why Azazel wants me here is so that I can help build a positive relationship between Forrosa and New Alfheim. In a manner of speaking, we were given the exact same job,” he admitted.
“W-what, really?” she asked.
“Yes, and with Marcus moving to Alken as we speak, maintaining his status as a Forrosan Dignitary, it would be easy for you to go about achieving your goal if I introduced you to him,” he said to be supportive.
She nearly gasped at the suggestion as she leaned forward with widened eyes and asked, “Would you really do that for me?”
She then realized how she was acting and started to compose herself as she asked again, “Would you be able to set up a meeting like that for me?”
Slightly amused, he smiled and said, “I can try...but only if you and I spend a bit more time and effort into working things out between each other.”
She opened her mouth to protest but her words were caught in her throat as she stuttered, “I-I…I think….we can work something out, I guess.”
Frosk nodded in agreement and a brief silence passed between them until he thought of a question he had wanted to ask her ever since he learned that she was his daughter.
“Hey…, how did Lorra come up with your name? It doesn’t sound like a traditional Dark Elf name,” he said.
“Its not…I think that it was meant to be a pun. A way for her to say that there was a great fable of a warrior in our family. However, the more I tried to look into it recently, I’ve learned that it has stronger ties to Forrosa than it does to New Alfheim…,” she said and he suddenly felt very uncomfortable.
He felt like if they focused on this conversation for too much longer that it wasn’t going to end well.
He slapped his hands against his knees and said, “Well, why don’t we talk about this some other time then? I need to sleep so I’ll be heading back to the Inn for now,” he said as he stood up and started to head towards the door.
But before he could make it two feet, Fayebel stood up suddenly as if to stop him but said nothing.
“W-Well...I’ll see you tomorrow then, right?” she asked.
He turned around, looked her in the eyes, and said, “Of course.”
Gomori…
It had been days since Ruvick had disappeared towards the end of the contest and she had not sensed a trace of his whereabouts anywhere in the world since then.
Yet she remained in his home to take care of Raum’s soulless body and preserving it as best she could.
Every day, Gomori fed spiritual energy into it to keep it alive in the hopes that his soul might find its way back into his body.
But for every day that passed, she started feeling less and less concern, and more curiosity as to how he had managed to get himself stuck in a woman’s body as his permanent vessel.
To add to that, with his vessel being Jeanne D’Arc herself, a saint of the old world, it was incredibly ironic for him to have chosen her body of all people and stuck with it for so long.
As Gomori stripped Raum’s vessel of its clothes to clean it, she wondered what was so special and useful about it that he would stay in it for tens of thousands of years even before the Exodus happened.
Just as she was about to start washing the vessel’s breasts, Raum’s eyes opened suddenly as he gasped for air.
Startled, Gomori took a step back and said, “Raum?! You’re alive!”
“Yes…I can see that...what happened to me?” he asked her.
“W-What do you mean ‘what happened’? You had your soul ripped out and you came rushing here! You were talking about some kind of warning but you ran out of time before you could say anything further,” she explained.
“I see…, where is Ruvick by the way?” he asked as he looked around.
“I don’t know, he hasn’t shown up in days and his presence has been untraceable across the entire universe. Either he disappeared because he doesn’t want to be found, or something extremely powerful has managed to blindside him and is keeping him hostage,” she said with a disturbed expression on her face.
Raum grimaced as he said, “I don’t want to imagine a force more powerful than Ruvick existing. I need to make my way back to Lady Moyako. Let us hope that he will return before too long.”