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A few days later, Treesa appeared at the home that the dark elves had given Roko's party to stay over in, still looking exhausted but with a tired smile. She certainly didn't look as sickly as before but she certainly wasn't any happier.

 "Oh, I'll be fine." Treesa insisted, "I came here to do something and honestly, I've almost forgotten about it after everything that's happened. But the food I brought along are probably about to go bad now so I should get cooking."

 "Are you sure you're not pushing yourself?" Kaguya asked.

 "It's fine. I'll take better care of myself from now on."

 "Does that mean, you're going to eat?" Corissa asked sternly.

 "I get it! It's fine!" Treesa tried laughing it off, "I'll take proper care of myself now!" Then in a lower, much darker tone, "I'm never going back to that hospital..."

 "Excuse me?" Momo blinked, confused.

 "Hey there, bestie!"

 "F**K! OFF!" Treesa yelled as Mistral arrived with Romer and his daughter's squad.

 "Are you sure you're friends with her?" Romer frowned.

 "Sure I'm sure." Mistral nodded, "Right, Treesa?"

 "I despise you with every fiber of my being."

 "See? Best friends."

 "Uh huh..." Romer replied, unconvinced.

 "What's with all the company today?" Helena asked.

 "We have a request for all of you." Reaumur said.

 "So what's the big deal now?" Roko asked as Treesa finished putting out tea for everyone at the table.

 "So you remember how Polaris disappeared after reuniting with Brook?" Drift began.

 "Yeah, we haven't seen Brook since either." Momo replied.

 "Well it's been almost a week since then and they haven't showed back up." Romer sighed, "There have been reports that they left the village at some point and we've put up multiple squads to look for them but they haven't been successful."

 "Maybe they eloped?" Helena suggested.

 "I don't think that's likely." Kaguya replied, "They love each other but I don't think it's enough to make Brook abandon her mother and elvenkind."

 "While Polaris doesn't really owe us anything anymore, I also don't think he'd just leave without warning." Reaumur added, "This behavior is really strange."

 "Best case scenario they're so distracted by each other that they've forgotten how long its been since they left." Roko sighed, "Worst case scenario, something happened to them."

 "Well, we haven't been able to pick up their tracks anywhere." Ohm said, "If something happened to them, we can't find any traces of any incidents."

 "If you can't find them, what makes you think we can?" Roland frowned.

 "I dunno, you humans seem to be in the business of surprising us." Reaumur giggled.

 "W-Well..." Roland coughed, briefly smitten by Reaumur's charm, "I'm sure we'll be able to do something for you."

 "Man, Roland's been on a roll recently." Kaguya chuckled softly as Helena buried her head in her arms.

 "He's on a Roll-land." Momo smiled.

 "Can we blow up Roll-land?" Roko asked, "We need to kill it before it spreads."

 "I'm right here."

 "And her father is right there."

 "Anyway." Romer squinted at Roland suspiciously, "We're not sure what's going on but we'd appreciate your help. Some of us wanted to ask for your help sooner but we didn't want to bother you so soon after your arrival."

 "It's fine." Roko replied, "Brook's part of our party anyway so we're already involved."

 "Thank you. We will help you search and navigate the forest so you don't get lost." Romer nodded, "We can leave when you're ready."

 "We can go right now then." Roko stood up.

 "You don't want any weapons first, Roko?" Momo smiled, "You lost your sword to that owlbear, remember?"

 "Ah. Yes I guess I could use one."

 "We can grab something from our armory." Ohm said, "Our weapons aren't as good as the elves nor do we have as many as the elves but we can find something for you to use."

 "I'd appreciate that."

 "Don't worry Roko, we'll find something for you!" Reaumur nodded.

 "Isn't this a bit much?" Roko frowned at his heavy leather armor strapped with a sword, with a belt of throwing knives wrapped across his chest, a hatchet attached to the back of his belt and a whip equipped to the other side of his belt.

 "Now hold onto these."

 "What the-" Roko said as Momo and Reaumur forced a shield and spear into his hands, "Is this really necessary?!"

 "Do you want to spend another feverous night at the nursing tent again?" Momo grinned.

 "You need to look more impressive." Reaumur nodded.

 "What does that have to do with anything?!" Roko cried, "And does this shield have a sword attached to the bottom?!"

 "Yep! Just press that switch and it'll swing right out in front of you! It's advanced technology!"

 "I feel like this is overkill." Roko frowned.

 "Hey Momo, take a picture for me." Reaumur said.

 "Gotcha." Momo said as she pulled out her phone and snapped a photo of Roko standing there decked out in armor.

 "Aight now we'll just attach this to the report to the elders once it's all over."

 "You got it!"

 "They won't be able to complain after this!"

 "What's this about?" Roko frowned.

 "Nothing. Don't worry about it."

 "Yeah, don't worry about it." Helena agreed as she patted Roko on the shoulder, "Just think of all the cool things you can do with all these weapons."

 "I feel so heavy." Roko scowled as he looked down at all his armaments.

 "You'll get used to it." Ohm laughed.

 "Heh. Amateur." Roland smirked.

 "Umm...is it really okay if we borrow all of this?" Corissa asked.

 "It's fine with me." Romer gave a thumbs up.

 "Why?!" Roko cried.

 "Whatever my daughter wants, my daughter gets."

 "Anyway, let's all pile up in the carriages now." Drift called out to everyone, "There's only two carriages but there should be plenty of room without your luggage. We're going to be transported to one of the areas we haven't searched yet deep in the reaches of Arbrea. Be prepared to encounter dangerous creatures."

 "Yes teacher!"

 "I'm not your teacher."

 An hour later, the carriages stopped at an unknown depth of Arbrea. Stepping out into these unfamiliar woods, Roko couldn't really discern any difference in these woods compared to the woods around Duskwald. There was a little more light, the luminescent spheres that were more abundantly scattered around Granreveria were a little more prevalent than in Duskwald but it was still too dark to see that much further in front of them. It was actually a bit unnerving, watching the luminescent spores float about, revealing things that were farther away for them but only for a moment, a small window of clarity that may reveal a monster hiding from them or running at them at any moment. But as it stood right now, it seemed peaceful enough.

 "We're at the edges of dark elf territory right now." Romer explained, "We figured we'll trace around the perimeter and work our way inwards to preform a more thorough search."

 "Are we just looking? Doesn't seem like we'd be very effective just looking around. Even with all out eyes."

 "That's why we bought help." Reaumur grinned as she pulled out a whistle and blew it.

 The whistle didn't make any noise that Roko and company could hear but immediately three blink dogs appeared besides her.

 "Just a few familiar faces." Reaumur said as she knelt down to pet the dogs around her, "You already know Klaus and Penny or Penumbra. This is her mother, Umbra!"

 Penny and Umbra wagged their tail happily as Klaus sat to the side, looking dignified and professional even as his tail continued to noticeably wag.

 "Here Klaus. Come here boy." Helena knelt down and clapped encouragingly at the blink dog.

 Klaus barked and obediently walked up to Helena, letting her pet and rub him as much as she wanted.

 "Daw, what a good boy."

 "Klaus would make a great service dog wouldn't he?" Kaguya chuckled.

 "Reminds me of someone else, right?" Helena eyed Roko with a smile.

 "Are you comparing me to a service dog?" Roko frowned.

 "Well, if the collar fits." Helena giggled.

 "Roko's way smarter than a dog though." Momo said as she came over to pet Klaus as well.

 "Regular dogs maybe but this is a blink dog." Helena replied.

 "Umm...uhh..." Corissa fidgeted behind Helena and Momo, trying to look for an opening to pet the dog as well.

 "Roko, you want in?" Helena asked.

 "No thanks."

 With another bark, Klaus suddenly teleported in front of Roko, sitting there and looking expectantly up at him.

 "I'm in armor right now." Roko sighed, "I've got gloves on, see?"

 Klaus barked again.

 "..." Roko sighed again and placed down his spear, removing his glove to kneel down and pet the dog. Klaus panted happily as he licked Roko's hand as was petted.

 "Looks like Klaus still likes Roko best." Helena chuckled as she and Momo stood up.

 "It's really weird isn't it?" Reaumur said, "I mean if Klaus, or rather, Shadow wanted a different name or to be treated differently he could've just told someone."

 "Maybe Klaus didn't know how he wanted to be treated until he met Roko." Helena suggested.

 "So being treated coldly and ignored?" Kaguya smirked.

 "You make it sound like I'm a terrible pet owner." Roko said as he picked up Klaus and handed him over to a gleeful Corissa, "Granted, I never did get a pet after I moved."

 "It does seem like a cat would suit you better." Momo said.

 "At any rate, we should start heading out soon before it gets too late." Romer said, "The dogs are here to help track Brook and Polaris. We'll make a patrol around the perimeter and call it for today. We might not be able to make the full route today but it should get easier the more we complete. So let's get some work done already."

 "Yes general!"

 The dark elves began to walk off with the blink dogs Penny and Umbra trotting around them. The humans followed suit with Corissa still hugging Klaus close to her chest and rubbing her face against his fur. Roland watched this and muttered something probably envious.

 "So are we sure this method is going to work?" Helena asked as they continued with their patrol, "This forest shifts space and stuff right? If we come back here tomorrow, we'd still be in a different space and traveling from there might bring us to different places anyway."

 "The answer to that is a bit more complex than I can pretend to understand." Reaumur replied, "Those of us born in the forest can navigate it just fine. I think Polaris has described it as 'Finding the pattern in the randomness'."

 "It's kind of like a flow." Ohm added, "We don't really force our way to the point that we want more than we just kinda ride the flow of randomness to the point that we want."

 "I'm surprised you can get anywhere in this forest." Roland scoffed.

 "You can pick it up eventually." Drift said, "It only took Polaris a little while to learn how to navigate Arbrea."

 "And how long was this 'little while'?"

 "Only 120 years or so."

 "Wow Roland. Better get started." Helena smirked.

 "Yeah, I'm gonna leave that kind of stuff to Roko." Roland replied, "It's the only thing he's good for."

 "Not true. He can also make cocktails."

 "Yeah well, I could do that if I wanted to." Roland muttered.

 "Sure buddy. I believe you."

 "Okay then why don't YOU name something I can do that Roko can't do."

 "Oh. Oooo...hmm..." Helena continued to make thinking noises as she pretended to struggle for an answer that she wasn't bothering to seek.

 "Go on Helena." Roland pressed, "I know you can come up with something."

 "Oh man, can I call a friend?"

 "I know you can come up with something on your own!" Roland scowled.

 "Hey, Corissa, what do you think?"

 "Huh?" Corissa said as looked up from petting Klaus in her arms, "Umm...I think Roland is good at...umm...he knows a lot about swords!"

 "See?!" Roland cried, "I knew I Corissa could be nice to me!"

 "Momo knows a lot about swords too, bro." Helena smirked.

 "That's true, I do." Momo nodded.

 "Yeah well...I know more..."

 "Oh do you now?" Momo raised an eyebrow, "Can you tell me the history of your swords' creator? The history of it's creation and inspiration and the swords that came before them?"

 "...Corissa, come up with something else about me." Roland said.

 "Huh?! Oh no...uuhhh..." Corissa gulped, "Y-You're pretty funny at times. Yeah..."

 "There, see?! I'm funny!"

 "I dunno, Roko's funnier most of the time." Helena shrugged.

 "Oh please!"

 "Roland, when was the last time you even made a joke?"

 "I'll make a joke right now! What is a skeleton's favorite snack?!"

 "Spare ribs." Helena sighed, "You gotta at least do better than Oto here."

 "I thought it was funny." Reaumur shrugged.

 "There! See?!"

 "Didn't laugh but I was humored."

 "I'll take it!"

 "Well, I'm glad you're getting something out of this."

 "Well alright then, let's see how well Roko does! Roko!"

 Roko didn't reply.

 "Dude, Roko's been in the tank for the past 20 minutes now." Helena smirked, "You know we can't interrupt him."

 "What's he even thinking about?" Roland frowned, "Nothing's even happened yet."

 "Hey, what's the problem? Let the man cook. He's certainly doing more than you've done yet."

 "Okay first of all-"

 Roko was thinking. His mind was going through all the possible reasons for Polaris and Brook's disappearance. If he could figure out what happened to them, he could better plan a way to find them. Though without any real hints, he couldn't do anything but speculate. So he tried to think of ways to more efficiently search the forest but the spatial warping was making it difficult to come up with some sort of search route or pattern. So he moved onto ways to more efficiently search their immediate area. They had the blink dogs who were undoubtedly useful but there was something else he could do. That being to use his map pulse to find everything in their immediate surroundings. It was certainly doable but was it useful enough to exhaust himself for it? The cost for using his spells have always been minimal, so minimal that it was negligible really. There was always a small bit of exhaustion that barely ever lingers every time he uses his spells with the exception of his signature scan spell that always stored its results in his head until he went to sleep. The compiling information was the biggest strain he's ever felt from his spells so abusing his map pulse was probably not an issue as it was an offshoot of analyze which he never had a problem with. But how many times would he have to fire it off to no effect? Was it worth the non-zero amount of fatigue that came with it? Roko was certainly willing to do it if need be but was there really no better option? Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results but this was more diligence than insanity. Certainly doing something was better than doing nothing like he was doing now but if he really committed to this he wouldn't have the chance to come up with anything better. That and doing something repeatedly for no real reward so many times just didn't sit right with him. It just wasn't appealing to him personally but if he had to, he could push past it. Would his companions be cross with him if they learned he could've been doing this the entire time too? If-

 Roko's thoughts were stopped by a luminescent spore suddenly crossing his path. He stopped and gently touched the fuzzy sphere of light. It was certainly a pretty little thing but...Roko suddenly became guarded. These things floated about randomly, sure, but this one flew into his path a little...too quickly. It wasn't thrown, these things were too fragile to be thrown conventionally. A simple poke wasn't going to give it the distance and speed it had unless they were really close and Roko didn't sense any sort of big movement around him. The only explanation was a gust of wind but there wasn't much of a breeze at the moment. Which meant…

 "Analyze."

 At that moment, Klaus suddenly picked up something and barked, beginning to snarl in Corissa's arms.

 "Klaus?!" Corissa yelped as the dog teleported out of her arms and back onto the ground.

 Both Penny and Umbra began barking and growling as well as they glared off into the darkness of the forest around them.

 "What's going on?" Helena cried.

 "This reaction..." Reaumur frowned, "It can't be..."

 And from the shadows of the forest, a pack of displacer beasts surrounded them, growling and snarling back at the blink dogs.