Cellphone

The dark elves' grand welcoming party was in full swing and the humans were guests of honor. The princesses were sat at a wide fancy table filled with foods of all kinds. The men were sitting around a small round table in the corner of the tent.

 "How come no one wants to talk to us?" Roland frowned as he drank his beer.

 "Well, on this side we have Roland and two basically mute people and on the other side, they have Corissa." Roko said as they watched the men and women of the dark elf race crowd the human ladies with questions with Corissa in particular receiving an almost disproportional amount of interest.

 "No no. I only WISH you were mute, Roko." Roland scoffed, "Also I know Varis is basically mute but Mikado can talk you know?"

 "Have you actually talked to him?"

 "All the time, bro."

 "Really?"

 "Yeah! Tell him, Mikado."

 "We have talked on occasions, yes." Mikado said as he sipped his wine.

 "What occasions?"

 "Just whenever we're on our downtime." Roland replied, "We grab a drink and just talk for a bit, you know."

 "What do you two even talk about?"

 "Just whatever's going on and what's on our mind." Roland frowned, "It ain't a peace conference, bud. Plus we sometimes bring Varis along."

 "Wait, VARIS?" Roko choked on his apple cider, "You guys talk with Varis?!"

 "In the form of yes or no questions, yeah." Roland nodded, "Right Varis old buddy?"

 Varis shrugged.

 "Wait so the three of you have been having your own sort of guys nights?"

 "Well yeah."

 "And this is the first I'm hearing of this?"

 "What, you want to come along?" Roland scoffed, "I figured you were more interested in the girls. I mean to be fair so am I."

 "Man, that's a shock." Roko said sarcastically.

 "Hey man, if you wanna be part of the boys club you gotta loosen up a bit." Roland smirked, "Look, let's start with you. Got anything you want to talk about?"

 "...Maybe one."

 "Yeah? What about?"

 "I asked Corissa about her preferences."

 Roland slammed his mug down on the table with a dead serious look on his face, "And?"

 "She doesn't really care about what you look like. She just wants a normal romance."

 "...So you're saying I have a chance."

 "Varis is literally right there."

 "Oh Varis is used to this! Ain't that right, Varis old pal?!"

 Varis shrugged.

 "Why do you even want to date Corissa?" Roko frowned, "I mean, I get why because you're Roland but you're supposed to be Helena's knight aren't you?"

 "Hey, just because I'm one princess' knight doesn't mean I can't make moves on another woman."

 "Even if she's also a princess and your boss' friend?"

 "Hey man, when you've got a field with as quality a players as this, you gotta swing for the home run, bruh."

 "How do you know what baseball is?"

 "Besides if you're too chicken to make a move, someone should do it."

 "Oh yeah, you're real original in that regard." Roko said as he glanced at all the dark elves surrounding Corissa at this very moment.

 "We all know those guys ain't got no chance with her."

 "And you do?"

 "I've got game for days."

 "If those days were leap days maybe." Roko scoffed. "And you've been with Helena for how long without any progress?"

 "Hey man, I wasn't even trying back then. You gotta save your real good stuff for the chicks that are worth it."

 "..."

 "..."

 …

 "Please don't tell Helena I said that."

 "Make me a cocktail and I'll consider it." Roko replied as he sipped on his cider.

 "Roko!" Helena called from her table.

 "Yeah?!" Roko called back as Roland scrambled to hide under the table.

 "Corissa keeps trying to leave to check on Treesa! Can you go do that for her real quick?!"

 "Sure!"

 "Also, what's Roland doing?"

 "A-Aha! Hahaha, found the penny I dropped!" Roland laughed nervously as he came out from under the table, "Roko, you gonna check on Treesa? I'll come with you! Come on!"

 Roland quickly dragged Roko out of the party tent before anybody could say anything.

 "Phew." Roland said as he and Roko walked away from the party, "Nothing like a nice walk after a party!"

 "Party ain't over. You know that right?"

 "Nothing like a walk to just cool down after a big party." Roland repeated.

 "Whatever, I've got to find the nursing tent."

 "Do you know where that is?"

 "I mean the village isn't that big and I'm sure it's marked somewhere."

 "Oh! Hey!"

 "Oh hey it's the doctor." Roko blinked as the dark elf from earlier that took Treesa away waved at them as she made her way towards them.

 "Oh hey it's Root's new wife."

 "Roland, some tact please."

 "What?! It's true!"

 "Heard you guys beat up some owlbears!" The dark elf said, "High five!"

 "Huh? Okay..."

 Roko raised his arm in anticipation of the high five. The dark elf raised her hand in response but when she came in range and swung, she went past Roko's hand and slapped him in the chest.

 "Owowowowow-" Roko suddenly doubled over in pain.

 "Yep, your ribs are cracked." The dark elf nodded, "Alright, come with me."

 "Wait, ow! Alright, I can walk on my own!" Roko cried as the dark elf grabbed onto his arm and dragged him away.

 Roland stood there all alone for a moment.

 "Man, why does he get all the ladies?"

And that was how Roko ended up in the hospital for a one and a half days. He was forced to take some somewhat disgusting tasting medicine but he was assured it would help his ribs recover. This ended up giving him a fever that lasted his entire stay. He was given a bed right next to Treesa but after taking the medicine, he was unable to actually check up on her. Corissa and company checked up on him the next day but he wasn't able to recall the visit very well due to his delirium.

 "First day and Roko's already in the hospital." Helena laughed as they left the medical tent, "Next time, we're just going to go to Meliosante for his treatment."

 "The City of Healing?" Kaguya chuckled, "Goodness, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Ever since healing magic disappeared the perception of the city's been in the gutters. Last I heard there's just been non-stop civil unrest between the civilians, the government and the church,"

 "Things are pretty unstable there for years now, sure." Momo said, "But to be fair, their medicinal technology is still head and shoulders above anywhere else. Roko would probably be fine if we went there. The only problem is getting Roko out without him trying to resolve the cold war between its people. And then there's the rumors of spies stealing technology, techniques and research in the middle of all this."

 "You sure know a lot about Meliosante." Helena noted.

 "Momokami's the City of Combat. Of course we'd have good relations with the City of Healing." Momo smiled, "Though we haven't really done much to help them. It's a civil issue and there's not much we can do. Mommy and daddy have been considering if we should just continue to support them or just cut ties with them."

 "Hm. Maybe we SHOULD bring Roko there."

 "Good luck with that, I'm pretty sure Meliosante's on the other side of the continent." Kaguya said.

 "You guys thinking about leaving already?"

 "Oh hey Reaumur and company." Helena grinned as the dark elves walked up to them, "Nah, just discussing funny geopolitical relationships."

 "That sounds...rough." Ohm blinked.

 "Only if you live in Meliosante." Momo chuckled, "Anything we can help you with?"

 "Actually, my dad's been looking for Polaris." Reaumur replied, "Do you know where he is?"

 "No idea." Helena shrugged, "Brook's been gone too, I just assumed they've gone on full honeymoon mode."

 "That's what the council says as well." Drift sighed, "This is pretty important though."

 "What is?"

 "The general says this is a pretty sensitive operation."

 "What, you don't want us involved?"

 "That's not what I'm saying." Drift sighed, "You know what, it's almost time for us to report to the general anyway. If he hasn't found Polaris he said he's just going to present it to the council. You want to come along?"

 "I mean, we got nothing else to do." Helena shrugged.

 "Alright. We'll show you to the council room."

 Following the dark elves to the very back of the village, a large black wooden structure seemingly emerged out of the shadows. It certainly wasn't a castle, it didn't seem large enough to be a home to anybody. But it was clear that a considerable level of workmanship had gone into the creation of this building as it looked cleaner than the homes and shops of the main city. And much more varied materials had been incorporated as they could see glass windows, stone pathways and extraneous building details such as a balcony and towered roof. Romer was standing outside the building as his daughter arrived with the company of the humans.

 "What are they doing here?" was the first thing he asked.

 "Hey, we just wanted to see if we could help." Helena replied, "I mean, we don't know where Brook or Polaris is but we can help find them if you want."

 "No, it's fine." Romer sighed, "Those two haven't seen each other in years, it's fine to give them a moment for themselves. I'll just leave this with the elders."

 "You're talking about that phone Rivera gave you right?" Kaguya asked.

 "Sharp, aren't you?" Romer said as he pulled out the magical device he had received, "I was told to give this to our village's leader but since Polaris is gone, the elders will have to do."

 "Polaris is an outside entity allied with the dark elves right?" Momo asked, "Then why do you want to give it to Polaris over your own elders?"

 "Well for one, this is the first magical device of this kind we've encountered." Romer scoffed as he looked down at what was a common everyday device to Helena and company, "The only one who'd know how to use it is Polaris himself."

 "Really?" Kaguya said, "We could show you how to use it if you want."

 "This is a special device given to us by Rivera herself. I don't know if we can let outsiders meddle with it."

 "Looks like a normal phone to me but if you say so." Helena shrugged, "You want us to leave?"

 "No, it's fine. You can accompany us while we drop this off."

 "Gotcha."

 "By the way, I know Roko's in the hospital again but where's Corissa?"

 "She's taking care of him obviously. What, not enough eyecandy for you?" Helena smirked.

 "N-No." Romer coughed as his daughter eyed him suspiciously, "Just curious. Alright, let's go in."

 Following the dark elf general into the building, they could see a long hallway, decorated and furnished like a proper home with rugs, and tables and vases with flowers. Various scenic paintings accompanied each vase though there didn't seem there was much else to it other than decoration. Not far down the hallway, there was a large room with a stone table taking most of the attention in the center. This meeting room was amazingly well crafted, almost to the standards of elven architecture. The round stone table seemed smooth to the touch and the tall wooden chairs around them was flawlessly crafted. The tower roof was right above them and to Helena's shock, there was a series of stained glass windows built into the sides, depicting some sort of event in its symbolic art. Silvery light shone through these stained glass, basking the room in a wide variety of colors, a shockingly colorful display in the middle of their simple village. The elders were standing around this area, papers in hand discussing something in elven.

 "Elders!" Romer called as they walked in, "I have a gift from Rivera!"

 "That witch?" Glacier scowled, "What rubbish did they give you this time? A bomb or some such?"

 "Calm, Glacier." Fulminous chuckled, "What is it, Romer?"

 "They call it a phone." Romer handed the device over to Fulminous, "Apparently it allows us to contact her from long distances."

 "One of those things that Polaris talked about." Another of the elders said as she gathered with the others next to Fulminous to look over the device, "How does one use it?"

 "I don't know." Another unnamed one said as he squinted at it through his glasses, "Have you consulted Polaris about this?"

 "I haven't been able to find him."

 "That makes sense." The last elder nodded, "He's finally able to spend time with his beloved. Good to give him some space."

 "Has Rivera explained why she's given you this device?" Fulminous asked.

 "She said this was to better facilitate communications between us." Romer explained, "Not for the sake of peace between our tribes but as an alliance against the foreign monsters."

 "Foreign monsters?" Glacier frowned, "The orcs?"

 "No. The unnatural monsters I told you about that were allied with the orcs. Walking jaws armed with teeth sharper than any animal on multiple legs that can wrap around you all at once. Apparently they're a great danger."

 "You said they eat magic?" The female elder asked, "They ate through the twisting dimensional magic of the forest to attack the elves directly did they not? Are they really so dangerous?"

 "If I may." Kaguya interrupted, "We humans have also had previous contact with these monsters. They were in a forest attached to our school. This forest is less magical than the woods of Arbrea but they took over the entire forest in almost no time. One day they were contained in the tomb of a native tribe which we annihilated without mercy. And yet these monsters continued to propagate to the point that they had killed every living animal in the forest. They took over every square inch of the forest to the point that they took a spider's lair to store more bodies to make more of themselves. And this was all before they learned how to eat magic. In this way, I hope you can understand our and Rivera's concern."

 "A tall tale indeed." Glacier snorted, "And what proof do you have of this story?"

 "The forest in question is known as the Paramnesia Wildwoods." Momo explained, "Reconstruction efforts have been made to rejuvenate the forest life after its extinction. It's been spatially isolated so that the new life we introduced to it may live without interruption. If you speak with our headmaster we might be able to arrange a brief visit to the forest in question."

 "These humans were alongside us when we fought these monsters with the orcs." Reaumur added, "If nothing else, I hope you can recognize our reports in that matter and trust that they were highly influential in the raid's resolution."

 "We trust you." Fulminous nodded, "However, I'm not sure what the elf queen hopes to achieve with this alliance. What exactly does she want us to do?"

 "That is a detail left to be made among fellow leaders." Romer replied, "I intended to give this to Polaris as I assume this was meant to be completed as soon as possible but..."

 "Right, we'll have a squad assembled to try and find Polaris." One of the elders said, "He should at least be informed of this."

 "If I may." Helena spoke up, "I'm always surprised to hear that a human, no, a former human has such power over the dark elves' governing. How did this come to pass?"

 "That is a story from only a few hundred years ago." Fulminous chuckled, "We have never actually met this uh...Gareth as a human before. When he first arrived at our woods he was already a lich, albeit a young one."

 "And you guys were okay with that?" Momo asked.

 "We certainly weren't at first." Glacier said, "Fortunately for him we had a common enemy to ally ourselves against."

 "Who was that?"

 "You might know him well." The female elder smiled, "It was Waur."

 "Waur was here?!" Kaguya gasped, "Was he trying to attack you?!"

 "No. We have little of use to the orcs apart from our women." Fulminous frowned, "No, he was trying to strong-arm us into an 'alliance'. Though all he wanted was to use our expertise to find the elven capital."

 "This must have been before he found the magic eating monsters then." Helena said.

 "This was hundreds of years ago." Fulminous nodded, "He's been trying to force our hand since before Polaris came here. Some of us hate elves but we weren't exactly willing to go to war with them."

 "They wouldn't go away?"

 "We were their only way to find the elf city at that point." Glacier sighed, "And we weren't nearly strong enough to fight them off at first."

 "That was until Polaris arrived." The female elder smiled, "He was able to fight Waur to a standstill. Enough to force them to leave."

 "Wow!" Helena cried, "Gareth must be very strong!"

 "Indeed." Glacier cackled, "He fought the orc with powerful magics and swordplay at once!"

 "We were lucky to have him." Fulminous continued, "And so we invited him to stay here so long as he kept protecting us from the orcs. The young man was happy to accept as he had hopes of repairing relations between us and the elves in hopes of meeting his love again."

 "Doesn't that make him the same as Waur?" Kaguya asked.

 "Well, we were more willing to have peace than Waur. I mean, war." The glasses elder chuckled.

 "Plus we were touched by his quest for romance." Another elder laughed, "We wanted to support the poor man no matter how his love ended up."

 "And then he introduced guidelines to help facilitate coexistence and you all followed them?" Helena grinned, "That's pretty impressive on both your parts."

 "Polaris was very helpful in a variety of ways." The female elder chuckled, "He rebuilt this whole council room to be much fancier for one. It's all a bit new but not altogether unpleasant."

 "You deserve it." Momo smiled, "This village has the potential to become just as beautiful as Granreveria."

 "You flatter us, princess." Fulminous smiled back, "We're but a humble village but I hope you enjoy your stay here."

 "If you have any questions, do feel free to ask us." The female elder nodded, "My name is Cinder."

 "Apologies for the late introductions, humans." The elder with glasses bowed politely, "I am Farad."

 "And I am Ash." The last elder said, "You already know Glacier and Fulminous so that should be all of us."

 "And of course they already know you." Reaumur said, "We didn't spare any detail in our reports."

 "Couldn't pretend we didn't know you even if we tried." Cinder smiled, "Not after learning how famous you are."

 "Why are a bunch of princesses traveling together anyway?" Glacier asked.

 "Let's just saying we're following our own little 'Polaris'." Helena winked.

 "...Lady Corissa?"

 "No, Roko."

 "Oh, you mean the one in the black armor?" Farad asked, "He seemed very impressive."

 "No, that's Varis." Momo said.

 "Ah, then the one with two swords? He seems like a trustworthy fellow." Cinder said.

 "No, that's Roland." Helena sighed, "And he's really not."

 "Oh then you're talking about that last knight fellow?" Glacier said, "Honestly he seemed pretty simple."

 "I'm assuming that's Mikado." Kaguya chuckled, "Roko's not a knight."

 "Oh? Then who is he?"

 "He's literally the only human left you haven't talked about."

 …

 "He's the one who was standing next to princess Corissa." Fulminous sighed.

 "Oh, that guy!" The remaining elders exclaimed, "He seemed really generic."

 "He's the one in the hospital because he fought an owlbear."

 "Oh."

 "How could you forget him?!" Ohm cried, "He's literally the first human we talked about!"

 "Honestly, we thought he'd look more impressive."

 "That's cause you've never seen him in action." Momo laughed.

 "I mean, I suppose fighting an owlbear and only being in the hospital is better than some normal humans can do."

 "No, he actually hurt the owlbear too!" Reaumur cried, "He did some serious damage!"

 "Oh! So he helped kill some owlbears too!"

 "I mean, I don't think Roko actually killed any of those owlbears..." Drift muttered, "He kind of got knocked out pretty fast."

 …

 "So is he impressive or..."

 "READ THE REPORTS AGAIN!" Reaumur cried.