Chapter 39: Hueycraft

Lyra's situation was... delicate, to put it lightly. All of her external wounds and injuries she sustained over the course of the last few days were all smoothly taken care of, without much of a scratch left on her body.

Future technology was crazy.

Lyra was still just an ordinary human, the wounds she sustained from her battle against the women would have taken months to heal, and even then she'll still have scars left.

But her situation was far more dire than just that.

"Where did you get this?" Professor Hathaway adjusted his glasses and stared with wide eyes at the red crystal in my open palm.

Sometimes, I would forget this Middle-aged man was a knight himself, which meant he could probably perceive the amount of energy packed inside the one core.

All of a sudden he started sweating.

"It's red..." He said, almost feverishly.

Usually Elder Gods cores ranged from different shades of blue, but the one I've retrieved was red.

It was obvious why to me, but I kept my reasons.

"I did myself a favor and retrieved the core of the Boss of the Den. Have you truly not heard the details?" I asked, a little surprised.

It appears the Professor really had been a recluse while I was away.

Pulling out a small white rag to wipe his face, Hathaway recomposed himself and backed away.

"I suppose I should be getting a report anytime from now," saying so he got back on track. 

" This is incredible. When you said you were going to return with a core, to be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting much,"

" What was that, old man? " My left face twitched at his comment.

Hathaway coughed and took a step back.

"No, I meant, a random Elder God core wouldn't suffice for the procedure. I believe I already explained that to you. So instead, I was already spending my time figuring out an alternative method to devise a substitute for a core," he explained with a deep and tired sigh.

I remained quiet and took in his appearance once more.

'He was giving his all for a stranger?'

"I see." Despite my thoughts I responded curtly and walked past the professor and further into his office. 

"The Elder God this time around was an Evolved. When we discovered it, the so called Boss, was an abomination on the final stages of its evolution, and for that it required a massive amount of energy and resources. Accordingly, for that, it created a Den and took control of the surrounding creatures as lackey to bring to it game, in other words, the Ntuli people. " Even with my back against him, I could already imagine vividly how stunned the Professor's expression would be.

The next moment, he stuttered.

"A...an e...evolved Elder God...?"

Leisurely making my way to his desk, I sat down and turned around to face him.

"Hm? You people really don't know?" I had expected this, but humanity seemed to be truly unaware of 'those' monsters.

Right from the beginning, I found the choice of names for these creatures amusing, after listening to Lyra describe what had happened to the planet seventy years ago.

I read enough fiction as a kid to understand that "Elder God's" are reference to fictional primordial deities who are immensely powerful and utterly indifferent to humans. These fictional beings are ambiguous and appear in all sorts of forms, mostly as great pillars of light moving like dancing flames piercing down from the heavens, and they originate from another dimension. 

But the creatures mankind refer to as Elder Gods, are just ugly and disgusting. When I thought about it a little further, they most likely derived the name from the appearance of rifts. 

'Tall pillars of light tearing down from the sky...and come from a different world, ' the descriptions fit accurately to a Dimensional Rift Lyra spoke off.

And the beings from those Rifts originate from a different world through the rift. 

It was a little farfetched and a bit too exuberant for the ugly abominations, but mankind weren't all that cringe and edgy to call them that.

Honestly, I'm not one to talk actually...

But in my opinion, the name Elder Gods truly fit the real abominations.

Looking straight into the eyes of the dazed professor, I decided.

"Professor Bling Hathaway, if mankind doesn't get their shit together, they're doomed," I said evenly, my voice holding an unsettling weight. 

The professor shuddered visibly.

"Wh- what do you mean?" He questioned, his expression was complicated.

I leaned backwards against my(Hathaway's) seat and rested my face calmly against my arm.

"Professor..." I said slowly.

"For the compassion you have shown for my companion, I will give you a piece of information. Do with it whatever you will, but I'll also advise against disclosing this to the general public...or anyone else for that matter," i paused and added shortly.

Then I smiled friendly.

"In return I want you to quell a few of my curiosities concerning yourself and the Outsiders..." 

With beads of sweat forming against his forehead and face, Professor Hathaway adjusted his glasses one more time and stifly nodded. His eyes betrayed his determination...and fear of the unknown. 

Nodding internally, satisfied, I moved my lips and began a small story.

"Seventy years ago, I was abducted to a different world...a world of Red and Decay..."

***

After finishing up my business with Hathaway for the meantime, I returned back to the waiting room. In a few hours Barak was the one who came to me.

The large man was beaming with and equally large grin plastered in his face that made my brows twitch.

"What do you want?" I asked bluntly.

Barak easily disregarded my unfriendly tone and stated his business with the same vigour.

"The council has received the reports of the expedition and they would like to speak with you," his grin never faltered once.

'Finally, ' I thought 

"It's about time," I scoffed and said, preparing to leave.

"You really are a strong warrior. At this rate, you'll get what you are seeking for by being here," leaving such words, Barak led me.

And there I was, stood once more in the presence of old people. 

A large man with long locks of black hair flooding down his neck and back like a Lion's mane sat domineeringly against a wooden throne.

The village Head had the deep azure eyes of the Natives, which further glowed under the deep influence of the dark shadows shrouding a majority of his face. His massive body exuded a certain type of presence that was was forced to go unnoticeable.

Standing by his right side was Professor Bling Hathaway with a complicated expression, and a troubled gaze. The discussion I had with him from earlier was very like still vivid in his memories.

This time around, not a single soul voiced against me coming in with my sword. The Elders who were blatantly against me the last time were strangely all mild and docile.

Amongst them was the Elder from the briefing.

His blue gaze was still and indifferent, present with a strange solemn light of hazy wisdom, just as the first time I met him.

My gaze only passed over him once, so I didn't pay too much attention to the Elder.

I had the my indifferent gaze fixed in the village Head.

Eventually, he began. 

"I've heard the reports. You have succeeded in successfully keeping your side of the bargain by resolving our Tribe's problem. An evolved Elder God, who would have thought?" His voice was solemn and detached, but held a certain weight over his last words like a ponder.

I frowned.

"Successfully? More than half the members involved perished. You're not going to hold that against me, are you?"

" Their lives were in their hands, not yours. You only had one job, baby sitting my men was not a part of it. And besides...they were warriors, they died proudly in battle fighting for for their Tribe. I have no intentions on blaming you for their loss, in the end it wasn't pointless. "

I frowned once more.

'Why's he making me out to sound like a hero? Wasn't pointless? Heck yeah, it was!!"

I warned those retards over and over but they wouldn't fucking listen to me. Those fucking barbarians went on and died needlessly! I alone was enough, the numbers were just a liability, and in the end that nearly caused the enemy to grow stronger. 

"We have heard about your achievements and valor in battle, and first of all the council wishes to plead with you to disregard our earlier misconduct against you." The head then said and I casually dismissed the matter with a wave of my hand.

"More importantly...when will I get the side of your deal fulfilled. I appreciate so far what your tribe has done for my companion, so we are kind of even, but I hope that will not be put over me despite the agreement." I was getting exhausted dealing with these barbarians and wanted to get it done with already.

'But I still have to wait for Lyra's procedure, and then for her to wake up... Uwa, ' i felt tired.

"We will keep our word. You are a strong warrior, and if there's anything our Tribe respects above all, it is power, " the Village head smiled, displaying roles of bright white teeth and leaned forward.

The shadows obscuring his face slithered off, revealing the face of a middle aged man with hardened and charming features. His deep azure eyes glistened and glowed. He gestured to his right at the professor.

"The professor will attend to you and provide you with the information you desire. I can only hope our input will be enough to satiate your cause. In the meantime..., "

His grin still broad, and his eyes focusing on me with intent amusement, the village Head's voice resounded onc

e more.

"Feel free to feel at home. Consider yourself our guest."

" Dafuq? "