Chapter 154 - Explanations

The next couple of days were relatively peaceful.

Compared to the weeks that Rynold had spent on the mission, his time back home was significantly more pleasant. That being said, he didn't try to stay still for too long.

As he spent his first night back home in the medical ward, Neana first left to take care of some affairs with the other victims of the incident.

Before she left, though, Rynold summoned X from the Mech Knight from where he had left him. The Mech Knight left with Neana, but not before leaving some crucial information for Rynold.

The very next day, Rynold headed out on his own. Which, considering his condition, was an arduous task in itself.

His muscles still ached with every movement. So, naturally, doing any labor-intensive work was entirely out of the question.

But that really didn't stop him from getting some things done.

As soon as he left the medical room he had stayed in overnight, Rynold went straight to the Library. Passing through the oh-so-familiar tunnels, Rynold couldn't help but reminisce.

Atop the Floating Platform, Rynold stayed silent, admiring the peacefulness of his surroundings. Soon enough, though, Rynold arrived at his destination.

He struggled to go down the Floating Platform but eventually made it. He slowly walked towards the door and lightly knocked. Following this, he slowly opened the door and peeked at what was happening inside.

As expected, there wasn't much.

Rynold pushed the door open enough for him to pass through.

The Library in itself didn't seem to change much when he was out and about. The only main thing that Rynold could actually notice that was different was a table clear of any books or obstruction.

'Must be for entertaining guests.'

From a glance, Rynold guessed that an empty table would make it slightly more welcoming. It wasn't much, but Rynold knew that an empty table meant a lot more for Margareth to do.

Speaking of which, the elf was asleep once again on her table. Her blonde hair covered most of her face as she planted herself on top of a book that she was reading.

Underneath his breath, Rynold lightly scoffed.

There was a point in his life where he might've been pissed at someone sleeping so unnaturally. But, with what he's been through, Rynold was glad that there was some consistency in his life.

Tapping on the table where Margareth was sleeping, Rynold checked if the elf were in a deep sleep.

After a few taps, Rynold quickly gave up. It appeared that the elf was in some deep sleep, one which Rynold didn't want to wake her up from.

So, he found the same couch that he had sat on before, cleared a spot for himself, and sat down. Rynold decided to wait.

On the off chance that he would accidentally wake Margareth up, Rynold clearly didn't want to bear such wrath.

Fortunately, it didn't seem like he had to wait for too long.

The door that he had left open was taken advantage of by somebody else. A person entered the Library soon after Rynold did.

"Hey! You're actually here! I was just about to visit you!"

It was Jack. The same, old enthusiastic Jack.

Rynold nodded in response and pointed to the sleeping Margareth straight after. He didn't want a repeat of last time, after all. So, it was imperative to maintain silence.

"Ah, she's sleeping again?" Jack casually dismissed Rynold's not-so-subtle warning and went straight to the table where Margareth slept.

Peaceful and quiet to the absolute degree, the elf was sleeping away as Jack approached.

Without warning, Jack slammed both his hands on the table before him and started yelling extremely loudly.

"HEY! WAKE UP! YOU HAVE GUESTS!"

Rynold, surprised with what was happening right in front of him, swiftly shifted himself to the side. He braced for whatever wrath was in store for Jack.

He didn't want anything to do with this.

A second passed. Then, another. Then, another. Three full seconds passed without anything happening.

There was no sound of books flying about. Or Jack being physically thrown to the side of the room. Rynold was surprised and was almost tempted to check what was happening.

"How many times did I tell you not to DO THAT!"

Margareth's voice started from a rather quiet volume to a full-on shout. Which, to Rynold, was rather odd.

'A vocal reprimanding?'

Based on his previous experiences, Margareth would use magic almost immediately. It happened more than once, but her reactions since toned down when Rynold approached her.

When it comes to others, though...

Rynold looked back at where Jack was standing, fully thinking that he died by Margareth's hand. Fortunately, that wasn't the case.

Jack was still standing and was staring directly at Margareth. The elf, on the other hand, was staring directly back, her unkempt hair in the way of her gaze but still seemed unaffected by it.

'What the hell is happening?'

With widened eyes, Rynold was confused as to what the two were doing. And, coincidentally, where did all this tension come from? Rynold was bewildered. It was as if the two were having a staring contest.

"Ehem."

Rynold cleared his throat with audible emphasis. He did it to grab the attention of the two who were behaving like children.

"My Lord!"

Margareth immediately took note of Rynold's presence and stood up. Despite her overly apathetic attitude, she would still show the new Lord due respect.

"Told you there was a guest," Jack murmured underneath his breath loud enough for Margareth to hear. To which the elf snickered in response.

"Alright, let's all just relax, okay?" Rynold said as he struggled to stand up from the couch. "Anyway, I'm back. Anything important happened while I was gone?"

His tone was overly casual. But, in truth, Rynold sort of felt bad leaving for the mission. Sure, he didn't really do much as the newly appointed Lord, but he still had his own responsibilities.

"Well..."

The Librarian continued to explain what had happened during the past three weeks of his absence. Although there really wasn't much out of the ordinary, Rynold still paid attention.

By the end, Rynold nodded and smiled.

"Thanks for taking care of things while I was gone. Or in general, for that matter. But, I'm actually quite surprised that the relationship between you two improved."

"Improved, my ass. Do you have any idea how many times I've actually needed to wake her up?" Jack quickly refuted.

Margareth had a disgruntled look on her face as soon as Jack finished his sentiment, "and, do you have any idea how many times I told you not to do that?"

Clearly, the tension between the two wasn't all that simple.

"Alright, alright. Settle down, both of you. I've never really seen Margareth be this riled up about anything before, but anyway. Let's get down to business, shall we?"

The two nodded and confirmed Rynold's original purpose of visiting.

"Call everyone here. And, if you could call the leader of the refugees, that'd be great."

Rynold quickly ordered to which Margareth swiftly sent out the proper messages through the normal channels. It didn't really take all that long to do such a simple task.

"While we wait, mind telling us what happened to you?" Jack casually asked as he crossed his arms.

Swiftly shaking his head, Rynold gave a rather unsatisfactory response.

"Let's wait for everyone to get here. I don't want to repeat myself any more than I have to. Let's say that shit absolutely hit the fucking fan. God. Looking back at it now, I wished that you guys were with me."

He wasn't lying.

If Rynold had actually utilized the proper resources with the right people, he would've had a significantly easier time. He didn't have any proper insight into the situation to see things coming. To see how bad things had turned out.

The three of them continued conversing throughout the next hour. They waited for everyone to come into the Library to make any actual progress.

Soon, people started to gather at the Library. It didn't actually take too long with Oliver the first to show up. Then, the others followed.

"All right, now that we're all here. What I'm about to tell you is the series of events from my perspective. It may or may not be exactly what happened, but here goes."

Rynold then proceeded to explain the series of events and what he thought of them. He shared his personal thoughts of what had happened to him and small anecdotes as he went on. Rynold explained everything in excruciating detail, except for his run-in with the Emissary of Order, that is.

By the end of it, almost everyone had been speechless. Particularly, Leo and Lissa had their mouths wide open as Rynold got to the part where he was in the throne room.

What had happened to their parents went beyond reason. And, even though their relationship wasn't on the best of terms, they were still their parents.

"This is troubling," Margareth was the first to break the silence, seeming to have realized something.

"Yeah, the circumstances are something that we have to account for. Whatever those shadowy black things were, they certainly weren't human. Those creatures were like agents of the Association."

Rynold added before pondering in silence for a second. Then, continued.

"I don't know what they were after. But, the gravity of the situation still stands. And, as much as I want to go back there and check things out, I'm hereby declaring that place banned from any and all entry."

The tone of Rynold's voice was serious as his gaze indicated that this was no joking matter. Rynold didn't discuss the events that happened in great detail for no reason, after all.

No, it was to emphasize that the world was turning on its head.

"What do we do now, then?"

Chris was the next to speak up. Rynold hadn't seen the guy in quite a while, but it appeared that he was actually enjoying his time in the Tree.

"What else? We don't really know what they're planning, nor will they actually tell us. So, we wait," Rynold let out a deep sigh before continuing.

"Look, I called you all here because I'm going to need you guys out there with me. What happened to me out there isn't necessarily going to happen to you. But then again, there's no guarantee that you won't experience something worse either. I don't want to be the reason for something you might end up regretting.

"I'm not going to force you to do anything. It's a risk that I want you guys to consider carefully. Take as long as you might need. But just know that I'm not backing down and let these guys commit another massacre."

The end of Rynold's sentiment was somewhat angry. In fact, it was a sense of anger directed at the people who were responsible for killing all of those people.

Rynold may be no hero. But he wasn't some bystander either.

After Rynold finished his statement, came a bunch of follow-up questions. Questions in which Rynold thought had obvious answers.

As Rynold answered whatever question came up, the time seemed to have run on by. Soon, the supposedly fast briefing ended with Rynold, Leo, Lissa, Margareth, and Oliver left in the room.

"I'm sorry for what happened. I couldn't do anything to stop him from getting what he wanted."

Rynold was the first to speak as soon as everyone else had left. He apologized for what had happened to Leo's parents.

"Don't worry about it," Leo seemed to have forced a smile, "You did what you could. It actually feels like whatever we could've done, but, even if we did, they would've succeeded in their goal regardless."

Leo had been thinking about this for quite some time now.

Ever since he had gotten back to the Tree, Leo stayed mostly silent. Deep in thought as to what implications were throughout the series of events.