Chapter 100 - Breakfast Party, and Confrontation

A few days after the incident, the group prepared a simple yet hearty breakfast party inside Mari's tent, for being able to get out of the abyss alive and with their bodies still intact.

"While I appreciate everyone's effort into making this small celebration, why does it have to be at my place?" Mari asked Iza, who is the mastermind behind the party.

Having just woken up from her coma-like state a day before, the effects of her spell fatigue were still lingering, that seeing her friends being hectic at such an early time doesn't do favors to her.

"Why not, Mama Mari? Not only this tent is spacious enough for the seven of us, we also want to see what's inside your private quarters. Who knows what strange things we might find here," Iza replied with a sly wink.

Mari usually doesn't let anyone go inside her tent without her express permission. Iza figured that she will automatically refuse if she were to find out about her plans beforehand, so she decided to have the party held at her place and get things sorted out before she wakes up. Now that almost 90 percent has been prepared already, does Mari still have a choice to back down?

"Ah, Mari! Good morning!" Karen greeted her, as she went in with a tray in her hands.

"G-Good morning."

After placing the tray on the low table, Karen approached her and said, "Looks like you're looking better now, Mari. I'm glad."

"Better? What do you mean?"

Clearing her throat, Iza spoke: "To put it lightly, you were paler than a radish when you woke up yesterday. Surely that doesn't give off an image of a healthy person, right? Everyone was worried that the overuse of your abilities took a greater toll on your body than what we imagined, that you might not recover from it. Thinking about it is scary!"

"Nn. That's why we decided to hold our breakfast party here—to better monitor your health. The dishes we've prepared have ingredients that provide energy and helps a lot in replenishing lost mana, so you should eat well, okay?"

Seeing how much concern these two have put in her, Mari sighed and said—

"Alright. I'll eat as much as I can."

-----

"""Cheers!!!"""

As soon as the party started, all of them except Mari all raised a toast to themselves at Rin's urging, glasses clinking one after another. Her eyebrows rowned as she looked at Rin, who was in charge of the drinks.

"W-What is this? The color of this liquid, and the smell...isn't this an alcoholic drink?"

She then reminded her about the class meeting they had a few months ago, about the consumption of any alcohol while in another world. Even though the legal age for drinking is 15 in Arandel and in most other countries, Mari and the other girls tried to convince the rest of the class to only drink when they're 18, as prescribed by the laws of their own world.

"Gee Prez," Rin, aware of her worries, picked up a bottle and showed it to Mari. "Look, it clearly says here that it is not alcoholic. You know that things like these also exist here, right?"

'Indeed, there are drinks available in another world that provided the sensation associated with alcohol, but without the buzz,' Mari thought. Despite Rin being a brat, the girl in question has been always a diligent and responsible class member ever since. There's no way she will sneak in a bottle of liquor in her place without her knowing.

Feeling embarrassed by her revelation, Mari drank the liquid in her cup in one go and said to her, "I see. Sorry for being so strict over nothing."

"Attention, please!" Iza, holding a makeshift megaphone out of cardboard in her hand, stood on a crate as she acted as the emcee for the event. "Before we get started, I just want to ask Mama Mari to come forward, to give us a speech as the representative of our class. Everyone, let's give her a round of applause!"

"I-Iza?!"

"You can do it, Mari!" Kai coaxed her.

"E-Ehrm..."

'Go, go, Prez! You can do it!' her classmates urged her. After a few moments of thinking, she hesitantly came forward and took the cone from Iza. Applause soon followed, which made her face even more sulking.

"Ahem. As you might see, I still haven't recovered all of my strength, so I will make this speech as quick as possible."

"It's okay, Mari! No pressure!" James shouted.

"Nn. To start, I just want to say thank you to everyone here, for making this small celebration possible. At first I was very disappointed, barging into my tent without my permission and all of that, but I'm happy that you guys decided to push through with the preparations. Maybe next time, when the rest of our class are here, I myself will organize a larger party for all of us—just to return the favor."

"Oh, did you hear that? Mama Mari will organize our next party!" Iza happily echoed Mari's words to her friends.

Mari paused for a moment, then continued: "But then, let's not forget the reason why we're having this breakfast party right now. All of us, except for Ivan, discovered a realm by chance and then managed to get out of it, bringing along with us some valuable information that further confirmed our past theories, and some truths about a thing called [The Fool]."

She glanced forward and met Karen's gaze, who in turn slightly nodded her head, telling her that she's alright.

"This is only the beginning of our struggle. I know that, since as a Diviner I've had a glimpse of how thorny and convoluted our path is, leading back to where we all belong. Even so, we must not lose hope. Instead, let us all strive on and work together towards our goal—for at the end of the day we all have one advantage that separates us from the rest: that is, we all came from our world."

[Our] world.

For Mari, it's not the place itself that is worth coming back to, but rather, the things that comprise it. The families and friends they left behind, all of their memories, experiences, and feelings—things that mattered the most to everyone and couldn't be replicated anywhere else. Even though it has its own defects, it is what they call 'home'.

"That's why...errr..."

"Uhh...Mari?"

Taking a few deep breaths, she gathered all of her resolve and—

"Let's do our best, okay~?"

"Pfffuuuu—"

"""UUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!!!"""

Mari concluded her speech with a surprisingly cute idol pose, which made Rin almost spit out her drink, and the rest—especially the boys—to go crazy.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Mari—

"I knew it. I should'nt have done that..."

Feeling extremely embarrassed, she placed the cone on top of her head and covered her face with her hands.

-----

Before they started the party, the group had a drawing lots to delegate several tasks, and Karen unfortunately picked the cleaning of dishes. Looking at the mountain of plates, bowls and other cooking implements in front of her, she sighed and muttered:

"Why am I always unlucky when it comes to drawing lots..."

"Hey Karen, do you need help in that?"

"E-Eh?"

She looked back, and saw Rin also eyeing the dirty plates in front of her.

"Ugh. Even with gloves, cleaning all of those would still take you a long time. Let's do it together instead."

"But Rin...haven't we drew lots already? I'm fine doing this all alone."

Shrugging her shoulders, Rin replied, "I don't know, but looking at you right now it seems like you're about to cry anytime."

"I-I-I'm not crying!" Karen's face instantly turned red at her words.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it already," Rin tossed her hair back as she spoke. "Geez, you really are a sheltered princess..."

As the two work on cleaning the dishes, Rin heard a faint chuckle leaking out of Karen's lips. Curious, she asked: "You remembered something funny, Karen?"

"Eh? S-Sorry, am I too loud?"

Rin shook her head. "No. It's just that...it's been a while since I've seen you being happy like that."

She first noticed the change in her atmosphere immediately after they reunited while they were still inside the abyss. Karen herself still hasn't told everyone yet the whole story, but she had a hunch that it has something to do with 'that'.

"'Happy', you say..." puzzled, Karen stared at her reflection on the plate she's holding and said, "I'm not sure. If the word 'happy' has the same meaning as 'relief' then yes, you could say that I am indeed happy." Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click #'t-have-any-abilities-!_12421071605419605/breakfast-party-and-confrontation_52656325724790258 for visiting.

Looking at Karen's face, Rin instantly remembered a term that perfectly described the scene in front of her:

'Catharsis.'

Purification, purgation. The girl beside her, through unknown means, must've already found her peace of mind after a long battle against uncertainty and self-doubt.

Mustering herself, Rin—

"Karen, why are you doing this?"

"Hm? What's with that question, Rin? Did I do something wrong?"

Rin looked at her with a sharp gaze, which sent chills to her spine.

"Answer me, Karen: why, of all people, are you concerned the most about Ren? Why are you affected so much about him being missing, that your behavior abruptly changed after the attack at Arteim? Tell me—was there something between the two of you?"

Rin didn't ask that question to her out of bad faith. Rather, it is the itch of curiosity that made her confront Karen head-on. As the person who's been with Ren the most, she find it really interesting to see someone else think of him as more than just a classmate.

Karen, having been caught by surprise for a moment, smiled at her and replied:

"Does it really matter to you if I showed that much concern towards Ren?"

"Of course. I am his childhood friend, after all."

Even so, Rin is aware that the she can't use that card anytime she wanted. At the end of the day, she's just a childhood friend—a person that just so happened to be Ren's neighbor for a long time. That in itself doesn't give her the right to decide on who should Ren have relationsh.i.p.s with, especially if the person in question himself is missing.

"I see. Ren really was lucky to have someone like you by his side always."

After she washed all of the dishes and placed them in a tray to dry, Karen gently took the gloves off her hands and placed them inside her pocket. As she's about to leave, she slowly approached Rin and whispered:

'If I told you that I like him, would you believe me?'

"W-What?!"

"Fufu," Karen chuckled for a moment before she returned to her tent, leaving Rin behind.

Her words really struck her hard, like a concealed punch aimed straight at her face.

"So it's true after all, that Karen..."

Her throat started to hurt before she could even finish with her sentence. Now that her hunch with regards to Karen is finally confirmed, Rin can't look at her the same way again.

"Just as I thought, on that day..."

-----

"So you're saying, that the Arcana we're looking for is inside a boy all along?!" the King of Arandel voiced out his shock to the man with a dragon mask, who suddenly appeared in front of him while he was in the middle of a nap.

"That's right, Your Majesty. It turns out that the boy survived the attack at Arteim with the help of the late Vice Commander Lieman."

"Damn it! Curse that Lieman's soul!" the King slammed his fist at a nearby wall.

However, if the boy is still alive—

"Then, do you know where he is right now?"

The dragon-masked man shook his head. "Unfortunately, I have no idea right now. There was no response when I tried to look for him by searching for signs of [The Fool] throughout Arandel, and in Rashaim as well. He must've still not went too far from here, and he headed for Narashel instead."

"Narashel..." the King clicked his tongue upon hearing the name of the country.

Arandel and Narashel—two countries that are in constant rivalry with each other. Despite the two of them being in good terms with each other for the last few years, the King of Arandel's growing anxious of the recent developments the Narashel monarch is implementing, upsetting the balance of power they shared with Rashaim.

'If he is indeed in that country, we will have a hard time getting him back to Arandel,' the King muttered in worry.

"But there is a way for us to get him," the masked man said to him.

"For real? How?"

The masked man didn't say anything, and instead pointed his finger at the map on the wall—directly towards a town on the border between Arandel and Narashel.

"C-Could it be that..."

"Nn." the masked man nodded.

Astounded, the King walked closer to the map, and looked at the town the masked man has indicated.

Sadari—the place where the supposed great battle between them and the demons will take place.

"Thanks to a certain agreement between the three countries, a country's force could only enter another country only if there's a great threat to human safety, which in this case a demon attack. If you can detach a small group of people and put them in disguise while the main force is fighting you can get information to where that boy is, or possibly even find him," the masked man suggested.

"T-That might be possible..." the King replied.

Even though he's worried that Narashel would find out about his plans and might cause a diplomatic problem in the end, he's still willing to risk that in exchange for the boy and his Arcana.

"But the problem is, who shall take on that task to find him?"

Hearing that question, the masked man chuckled and...

"About that—"

"—?!"

The King glanced at his side and to his surprise, saw Kai standing right in front of the door, who was petrified by the things he has heard from the two.

"I-Is it true, Your Majesty, that Ren is still alive?!"

Looking back at the masked man, the King asked: "What is that kid doing here?!"

"I only said that there is something you wanted to say to him, and he must hurry. I didn't technically fooled him, for he has heard everything."

"You...?!"

Ignoring him, the masked man turned to Kai and spoke:

"I think...we can use this boy for our plans."