Chapter 266: First Destination of the Journey
Chapter 266: First Destination of the Journey
"Yeah, it's sad to say, but it's true. No one can uphold justice and righteousness to all places and to all individuals even though they need help. Even the Goddess herself can't do it..." Ariel looked up a little as she gave a rather heavy answer for herself to say. It was the truth but quite bitter on her tongue.
Everyone fell silent and pondered for a moment after hearing that. "Right..." Elysia mumbled under her breath.
After a few moments passed, the atmosphere returned to normal. And at that time, Elysia dared to ask things that she did not understand.
"Excuse me, I have a bit of confusion over Energy Cores like the one in this Gravy Ark socket." Elysia raised her hand slightly and pointed at the half-spherical dark blue crystal.
"Hmm, a curious girl who wants to know more. Okay, ask me the thing that confuses you, Miss Elysia. Hm, now I'm starting to feel weird calling you using an honorific." Maximilian stroked his beard, thinking about a suitable nickname for Elysia.
Unlike Gabriella and Evelyn, who used the title of status before their name, he called Elysia an extra honorific out of courtesy. Basically, he didn't know what title to call Elysia, but it would be a bit wrong to only mention Elysia. It was like disrespecting the Goddess's disciple.
"En, thank you, Sir Maximilian. If that sounds wrong to you, you can just call me Elysia." Elysia folded her hands in her lap.
"Well, well, that's an honor for me. However, I will still call you as Miss Elysia when in public." Maximilian's expression brightened up. It was an excellent proposal and to look forward to. That way, he could feel closer to the Goddess's disciple or perhaps, he could meet the Goddess of Light directly soon.
"You are being disrespectful, Sir Maximilian." Ariel chided with an unsatisfied expression.
Before anyone could respond to that, Elysia opened her mouth again. "You can also just call me Elysia, Miss Ariel. I'm not a princess, important people like Eve and Ella."
Although it received protests from the two princesses in question, of course. Evelyn and Ella didn't want Elysia to think of themselves as any different from usual. Though Elysia was just kidding, and they only giggled when Elysia made a defense.
On the other hand, Ariel gasped at once. It was unexpected. She wanted to obey Elysia's request to feel closer to the divine figure, but she found it rude and disrespectful. However, to refuse after being asked like that was just as bad. She fell into a dilemma.
If that had to be said, she already considered Elysia as the future Goddess. She knew very well that the Goddess of Light wouldn't raise a girl as a disciple if the girl in question didn't have an incredible talent or extraordinary potential.
So, if her mortal self dared to call the future Goddess with just the real name like that... It was a sin because she didn't deem she was worthy enough.
"Ye-yes, it's a matchless honor for me, Miss Elysia. B-but, please allow me to keep calling your name along an honorific, or replace it with something more appropriate in the future." Ariel pleaded with mixed feelings.
"Ah-uh, okay." Elysia didn't impose anything either.
"Heh, charcoal calls the asphalt black. You're the same." Maximilian sneered with a smug expression.
"Huh? Looks like you heard me wrongly, Sir Maximilian. Has age come to you and made your senses so dull to be conscious?" Ariel lifted an eyebrow. She didn't like the old wizard's remark.
"Eh? I heard that wrong? Well, then, please forgive me. I didn't mean to offend you with light sentences like that." Maximilian knew what to do to reconcile the atmosphere, and it was none other than apologizing.
"That's good if you understand. Please continue, I remember Miss Elysia wanted to ask something of Sir Maximilian." Ariel heaved a small snort without anyone hearing it.
"Oh, yes, Ely, what did you want to ask earlier? You made me curious too." Feeling that Ariel and Maximilian were no longer at odds, Ella immediately joined the discussion.
"Ah, that's right. So like this, as we know, most magic devices use certain crystals or Energy Cores as their power source. If the crystals in question were obtained from mining, then where did the Energy Cores come from? Is-could it be from something that can't be said?" Elysia gulped and ventured to ask that far with Elena's support.
They didn't know anything, but the worst thing was the slaughter of other sentient beings. If so, they didn't know how to respond to it.
"Oh, that? Haha-haha... Why are you asking with a scared expression, Elysia girl? What all you know is that the source of this Energy Core is a large scale massacre of another race?" Maximilian chuckled after hearing that, although it was partly due to the funny expression on Elysia's face.
"How rude, you laugh at me when it's a serious question. Eve, help me." Elysia became a bit sullen because she felt like it was being used as a joke.
"That's rude, Granpa Max. Please don't laugh like that, Ely's not kidding if you need to know, hum-hum." Evelyn surely sided with her best friend. It was unpleasant when serious questions were met with laughter.
"Oh, ho-ho, sorry-sorry. I laughed not because of the question that came up, but because Elysia's expression just didn't match her question and it tickled me." Maximilian caught his breath for a moment.
"Let's get back to the question, earlier. It's no wonder you ask because it's not common knowledge. However, you don't need to worry, Elysia. While it's true that some Energy Cores come from war or something and are usually sold in black shops, that's only a fraction of everything. In several areas in the Holy Central Region, you can find several beast farms. Well, the Energy Core comes from there." Maximilian returned to being an almost all-knowing and wise sage master.
"What, there are farms too? Even Spirit Beasts?" Elysia was the first to came out from the surprise and poured it into words, while the two girls next to her were only a little surprised because they just found out about it. As for Fran, he already knew and didn't respond in any form, just like the four knights near him.
"Why are you shocked like that? If you explore it, you will know that the Beast Race is spread across all continents, not only in the Beast Continent. And again, some types of the Beast Race in our continent are indeed livestock. For example, Scarlet Taurus, Capra Atranochs, and many more." Maximilian gave a dry laugh after his explanation.
Unconsciously, Vanessa approached her master, climbed into her master's lap, and asked for protection there. Whatever it was, she didn't want to be considered as livestock by these humans.
"Hum, I can confirm Sir Maximilian's statements and explanations. Not only that, I can even point out that some of the dishes from Emperor Arthur's luncheon earlier were Spirit Beast meat." Ariel kindly added with a hint of a smile. She was a bit amused to see the girls' shocked expressions.
'No, calm yourself, Ely. You don't eat strange forbidden meat. Taurus is just the bull, cow or buffalo... Whereas Capra, capricorn? The goat, right?' Elysia persuaded her inner self so that she didn't think anything strange. Whatever it was, she considered eating intelligent animal meat to be unjustified.
'Hehe, the cow and the goat, huh? However, they had sense if they reached the Spirit Beast level. Beasts are animals, that's all. You'll get dizzy if you stick around there, Ely.' Elena suggested a way out. Well, she also didn't want to eat anything carelessly without knowing anything. So, they needed to be more careful when choosing what to eat.
It would be nasty to know the food they had eaten was disgusting beasts such as insects and animals that needed no explanation for the common good.
After that, Elysia no longer wanted to ask any more questions because of her own thoughts. She just asked Evelyn, Ella, and Fran to play cards again... Something like guessing cards, matching cards, and a few others to fill their spare time.
The sky that had been slightly orange quickly turned dark blue. They had entered the blue hour, and finally, their destination city was visible in front of them.
They landed outside the city gates shortly after. The journey that took more than seven hours was quite tiring, but no one complained because it wasn't just sitting idly on top of the Gravy Ark.
"Rosie, Rosie, please wake up, it's almost night~" Elysia shook Rosie's body slightly with a gentle hum. Rosie took forever to wake up, and it wasn't the first method that was used.
"Ah, uh." Rosie only squirmed a little, not ready to wake up.
After that, Elysia borrowed Evelyn's perfume and brought it close to Rosie's nose. "Rosie, we've arrived at Rarora City."
This method was powerful enough to make Rosie wake up. The perfume scent made her open her eyes, then she looked right and left in a daze.
"Uhh... We've arrived at our first destination? I slept quite a while too, hngh..." Rosie rubbed her eyes softly and sat down.
"Yeah, good evening, big sister. Do you want to walk, or do you want me to carry you to the inn in the city?" Fran knelt beside his big sister, offering to help out of concern.
"Fuah... Fran, thanks for asking, but your big sister is strong. I'll just walk." Rosie smiled gently and ruffled her little brother hair before standing up.
Then, she looked at everyone who was staring at her before she bowed slightly. "Thank you for waiting for me and sorry for my ungraceful behavior of sleep."