Chapter 5 Checking In Part 2

"I should be going now." I hummed as I stepped outside and into the open air.

"We'll head over to the construction site and see what we're working with." Garm, one of the three dwarf brothers, said as I made my leave causing me to smile.

"I appreciate it." I nodded in thanks.

Before I could turn to leave though, Dord quickly spoke up as well. "Oh yeah, thanks for those magic pens you gave us by the way, they have been incredibly helpful."

"I'm glad to hear that."

With that said I left them to their own devices, I had only come by to get some information from them and to find out if they'd be willing to help me with my plans after all. As for what he was talking about, I had enchanted some special pens made of iron with two of my skills, more specifically my Superior Enchantment and Curse Constructor skills.

Moving on though, as for everyone I had wanted to check up on, well, I had run into Elisabeth on my way through town. She and her little entourage were checking out several different shops and other such establishments just like those six had previously told me she was doing. Unfortunately I didn't end up talking to her like I had wanted, and why was that exactly? Because it was around the time when I spotted her that Poe, the cute yet terrifying little dean, had showed up with flowers and I couldn't bring myself to ruin something like that. Still though, I have to admit that Poe is a surprisingly good gentleman despite being an eldritch horror that literally feeds off of the suffering of others.

Anyway, Kaen was nowhere to be found, if I had to guess he had fallen asleep somewhere and probably wouldn't be seen for a while. Despite his extremely "busy" schedule however, he had still somehow found the time to send a squad of his underlings to follow me around from the shadows, apparently they had all been taking some tips from Souei and his little group of ninjas. Also I hadn't managed to run into Gramps as of yet, although I'd see about checking in on him at a later date, for now however I had someone else to visit.

(Now then, let's head over to Vesta's lab, Haruko and Vel should be over there.) I thought to myself as I began walking. (Hopefully he hasn't been drinking any more of those damn potions.) I muttered internally but quickly sighed to myself, I knew full well that there was no point in even attempting to hope for such a thing.

"Who am I kidding..." Groaning in frustration I couldn't help but slump my shoulders a little. "Of course he's been drinking more of them, the idiot could legally be considered an addict at this point"

(Do I need to hold an intervention?) I hummed to myself.

With that thought firmly wedged within my mind I got a move on, no point in just standing around after all. It honestly didn't take all that long for me to arrive at my destination though, especially when you take into account the speed that I could move at nowadays. I was expecting to find a rather chaotic mess once I arrived, especially considering how Haruko was most of the time, however the moment I got close to Vesta's little secret laboratory this is what I was met with.

"Extraordinary, these potions that you have created are truly amazing."  

(Oh please no! Don't tell me Vesta is going to end up like Haruko?) I thought as I listened in, thankfully that didn't seem to be the case.

Vel for his part was rather taken aback by the compliment, he never really seemed like the confident type so his somewhat shy response made sense to me. "I...errm...th-thank you..."

"Now now my dear Vel you should be proud of your accomplishments my boy in fact shout them to the very heavens if you must so that all will know of your genius instead of bottling it up like some common fool who has no confidence in themselves I mean truly if as many geniuses were as open as I was then the world would be a whole lot grander if you ask me." Haruko on the other hand had far too much confidence in himself, especially when he was like this.

"Indeed." Kaijin nodded in agreement, somehow understanding all of that. 

"To think though, you have found so many new types of never before seen materials all on your own Sir Haruko." The dwarf smiled with an excited gleam in his eyes as he looked down at the various samples on the table in front of him "Just imagine what we could find if you actually had some proper mining equipment."

"That would be truly spectacular indeed the realm of the abyss is filled with all kinds of unknowns just waiting to be uncovered and I for one do not like allowing unknowns to stay unknown so after all mysteries are meant to be unraveled to be explored and so to leave them be without even trying to investigate would be a travesty of the highest order and I do not intend to allow such a thing to happen now that I know of their existence."

Deciding that now would be a good time to make my presence known I stepped inside and spoke up. "Mind explaining to me what exactly you guys are doing?"

"O-oh, lady S-Suu." Vel muttered a little startled by my sudden appearance.

"I hadn't expected you to come over little miss." Kaijin mused in surprise, however before I could even attempt to respond to that Haruko had already dashed over to me.

"I see you have come to investigate our activities ha ha I expect nothing left from a kindred spirits such as yourself we curious souls can't help but seek out knowledge where ever it is found ha ha ha ha ha good job my friend truly good job I knew that you and I were simpler in that aspect the moment we encountered each other all that time ago."

"I suppose you could put it that way..." I hummed after a second of trying to understand what exactly he was saying.

(I still can't keep up with him when he is like this.) I thought with a shake of my head.

"Now then come come I have so much to show you you will hardly believe the wonders that I have found I mean I can barely believe it myself and I'm the one who discovered the-" Haruko suddenly stopped in his tracks as a sense of calm washed over him.

"Much better, now I can actually understand you." I had just used one of my skills to snap him out of this state he was currently in.

"My apologies lady Suu, please allow me to explain as to what exactly we have been up to." Haruko's sudden shift in personality was definitely a surprise for Kaijin and Vesta. "Would you gentlemen be so kind as to lend a hand in this endeavor?" 

I sighed as the others in the room moved to help him. (I have a feeling this will take a hot minute.)