Chapter 92 - Heading Home

"Ooiiiii!!! Are you guys still alive?!"

Rynold called out onto the thick forest that stood before the tunnel to the cavern. Hoping that nothing bad happened to Chris and Neana, Rynold called out repeatedly until he heard some bushes rumble.

Chris was the first to come out with some scuff marks on his face. However, apart from some bruises and cuts here and there, he was fine. In fact, Chris was even in the mood to smile and laugh as he moved away from the bushes to join Rynold and Oliver.

Walking behind Chris, Neana soon cleared the forest, with no help from Chris whatsoever.

"Hey! Wait up!" Neana said as she walked out of the bushes looking tired as she could possibly be. "What a gentleman. Tsk. I did most of the work! The least you could do is help me out of that stupid forest!" she brazenly complained as if she wasn't tired at all.

Oliver looked at Neana who was slowly coming over while scolding Chris. On the one hand, he was amused at the occurrence, but on the other...

"Why'd you bring her again?" he asked Rynold who was also watching.

Rynold looked at Oliver and raised his shoulders, showing his amusement. "It ended well, didn't it?" he spoke in a convincing tone, "Besides, I'm sure she means well... Even though it doesn't look like it," Rynold said while ending his statement with a slight chuckle.

Oliver shook his head and suddenly something donned on him. To think that Rynold was being this close to a girl and defending her wasn't something Oliver hasn't seen before. It happened a few times before and, after some very questionable actions that Rynold did, Oliver managed to figure it out.

"Hey," he nudged Rynold once more, "You're not falling for this girl, are you?"

Almost immediately after ending the question, Rynold looked at Oliver with a somewhat guilty face. Rynold thought that he hid it well, but, unfortunately for him, Rynold wasn't good at hiding his expressions. Especially when it comes to stuff like this.

"Dude...," Oliver stared and shook his head. "Don't do this, man. Use that big brain of yours and think this thing through. Keep doing shit like this and you'll find yourself back exactly where Elle left you. After all that talk of being alone for the rest of your life, you'd think you've learned your lesson by now, you dumbass."

"I know, I know," Rynold nodded as he stared back at the scolding Neana. "I'm not gonna do anything about that anymore. It'll fade in time. I don't even think that she's into me like that... So, you know, let's just see what happens."

"Oh, for fuck's sake, man," Oliver whispers got slightly louder, "Shut those feelings down before I beat it out of you."

Rynold scoffed at Oliver's threats. "Me getting hurt emotionally is bad, but you beating the shit out of me is okay?" he smiled and shook his head.

"What are you guys talking about over there, huh?" Neana finally caught on to their somewhat unsubtle conversation.

"Nothing important," Rynold dismissed Neana's suspicions, "Come on, let's get home."

Pulling a small stone that had weird engravings from his inventory, Rynold told everyone to grab what they needed before they headed on home. As Neana and Chris didn't have much to begin with, the group waited for Oliver to summon Strider from his hiding place. At the same time, Rynold recalled the Axiom Spheres and place them all back in his inventory.

A few moments later, Rynold got the okay to activate the teleportation. It wasn't really anything interesting because he simply tapped the window that popped up from the stone, and, just like that, the group landed back on the teleportation room of the Tree of In-Between.

"Neana," Rynold donned his regular tone, "direct them to their quarters while I actually head back up to the Library. The rewards should pop up in the system as soon as Margareth gets to confirm it. I'll catch up with you guys later."

Without waiting for a response, Rynold quickly left. It wasn't that he was rude or anything, he just had a lot of things to do.

Jumping straight onto the nearest floating platform, Rynold activated it and headed towards his destination. It was the same convenience that Rynold has missed when he visited the alternate dimension. Even though his time there was short, Rynold still preferred to be stuck inside his workshop all day.

In a few short moments, Rynold approached the Library. Along the way, he could see the elves hustling and bustling. It was clear that their lives were happy and peaceful, despite the attack 8 months ago. It was truly a sight to appreciate.

Rynold knocked on the Library door and went straight in without waiting for a response. It was something that Rynold was used to doing. It didn't bother Margareth, anyway, so it doesn't matter.

"I'm back," Rynold said as he entered the main area where Margareth was. As he approached Margareth's desk, Rynold noticed that the elf was asleep. He had often forgotten that, even with all her power, she still needed sleep. What's more, Rynold forgot that the blonde elf had a beauty that was second to none. Unfortunately, though, her cold and uncaring gaze often overtook that.

With Margareth asleep, the best that Rynold could do was to wait for now. It wasn't the first time that this happened, but every time that he tried to wake her up... Well, suffice it to say, it would be the worst thing that a person could do to her.

Rynold sat at one of the couches and read one of the few books that he had read before. Over the past 8 months, aside from his inventions and creations in his workshop, Rynold was able to learn a bunch of things from Margareth as well.

The things that he learned were relatively basic, with an emphasis on the Elvish language. With that, Rynold was now able to understand the basic texts on the books in the Library. But, even then, spending whatever free time Rynold had to study Elvish certainly limited his understanding.

Sitting on the couch for a few moments, Rynold read silently. Whether it was because the book was interesting or something was on his mind, time seemed to move by quickly.

As the time neared dusk, the door suddenly opened. Rynold looked up only to find a friend that he hasn't seen for a while.

"Rynold? What are you doing here?" he said as he saw Rynold sitting on the couch.

"I could ask you the same thing, Jack," Rynold stood up and placed his book down.

The two laughed as they shook each other's hands. Rynold hasn't seen Jack for quite a while now. In fact, since Jack had become an important member of the Rogue Elves Division, he had become too busy. Whenever Rynold had to drop off gear for the guy, he had to leave it at the headquarters since Jack was usually out.

"How's the gun treating you?" Rynold asked Jack as they caught up.

Jack pulled a small gun from his inventory and showed it to Rynold. "It works amazing!" he said enthusiastically, "Thanks for actually making something like this. It's a lot more effective when pairing it with the sword that you gave me before."

Rynold had to admit, he couldn't have made a small gun on his own. Thanks to some inspiration from an old sci-fi movie and Phrystol's guidance, Rynold was able to make a small gun that used Mana to fire bullets. He had since dubbed it the name of [Mana Pistol] and gave it to Jack.

His naming scheme at the time, admittedly, wasn't the best.

Regardless, Jack seemed to have enjoyed the weapon. During his time with the Rogue Elves Division, Jack had grown in terms of strength and capability.

From the original backline sniper that Rynold had first met to a powerful frontline combat mage, Jack has truly grown. It was clear in his somewhat more powerful aura that Rynold had sensed when Jack first came into the room. So much so that Jack had developed a brand new combat style by combining the [Mana Pistol] and the [Frozen Teardrop of Mist].

"So, are you waiting for Margareth or something?" Jack asked once more.

Rynold nodded in response, saying, "Yeah. She's asleep now, though, and I don't want to disturb her."

"Pssh," Jack said as he marched to the table where Margareth was sleeping and slammed his hand on the table. "WAKE UP! TIME TO GET TO WORK!" he yelled, loudly.

'Oh, shit,' Rynold thought as Margareth groggily raised her head off the table and put up her hand.

Suddenly, Mana seemed to emanate from her hand and spread throughout the entire room. Then, the furniture started floating on its own and threw themselves all onto Jack. To which, he responded with a single word.

"Fuck."