We woke up—Arthur, Ella, and I—at the same time, without any specific reason. Sunlight was piercing through the window glass, gently illuminating the room.
Thinking about it… isn't this something like spatial dimension? A special dimension created by a high-ranking Despaye user that no one can enter without their permission. How is there a sun inside it?
The place is entirely magical, so it's not surprising. Most likely, the reason we woke up together like this was due to the nature of the place.
Ella moved and settled on my head quietly, hugging herself. As for Arthur, he got up and went straight to wash his face, leaving behind the sound of his footsteps on the wooden floor.
The only time I hear Arthur's footsteps is when he wakes up. Even though he's a long-range weapon user, he has the traits of assassins—or in other words, dagger users.
Arthur can use three elements, and Ankvorena can use the ice element, which is considered an advanced one. As for me, I use fire, which is considered the second-strongest among the four basic elements. I'm the weakest among them in terms of Despaye. I need to improve myself; fire alone is no longer enough. In my fight against Zote, I struggled a lot with the lack of options.
I got up too and washed my face. We discovered that Ank had also woken up. Gresta came and started preparing breakfast, and the atmosphere was silent. It was clear that Gresta had come to a conclusion. A bad one.
We ate in silence—sounds of spoons on plates, and the scent of flowers in the air. Ella was on the table eating from her own dish. Ank was using a knife and fork to eat. I didn't expect nobles and royals to really eat breakfast like this.
On the other hand, Arthur was also using a knife and spoon… even though he said he was from a poor family. He must admire the royal lifestyle.
As for Gresta, she was using the plant element in a unique way—cutting the food with a sharp wooden knife, and bringing it to her mouth with green stems. She didn't move her hands at all.
We finished eating and carried the plates to the sink. Gresta called us to sit in front of the fireplace on the wooden chairs.
We sat quietly, facing her slightly worried and complicated expression. She was looking at the table with furrowed brows, her small pink lips suggesting sadness and disappointment.
She finally spoke.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't find a cure."
Her tone carried both expectation and disappointment.
No one said a word. My face was expressionless. Arthur and Ank were silent, their faces showing some despair, and I felt Ella's sadness. I interlocked my fingers and placed them on my lap, looking at them carefully. I felt everything around me grow darker.
Is this… really the end? My mother will die slowly, right in front of my eyes. And I won't be able to do anything to heal her? I wasn't there when my father died, and I couldn't find a cure for her… and I forced—
Gresta cut off my thoughts with a new glimmer of hope.
"But there's still a solution. In the City of Tears, there's an old friend of mine named Elios. Most likely, he can make a medicine for you."
Her eyes sparkled, forcing me to believe her words.
But Arthur asked:
"If he can make medicines for diseases like this, why isn't he as famous as you?"
"A valid question. Elios, although he possesses unmatched abilities, has isolated himself from the world for years after a terrible incident that happened to him. He decided to leave everything and built a city where the rain never stops falling, living there alone. It's now known as the City of Tears."
"How will he be able to make the medicine?" I asked her.
"It's… too complicated to explain now. When you get there, you'll know how he'll make it for you. But the real problem isn't in getting there or anything else—it's in facing him."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You must convince him that you are worthy of receiving the medicine. Not only does he not want to communicate with anyone, he also won't give medicine for a disease like this to people whose intentions he doesn't know."
Arthur took a few moments to think, and Ank looked at me quietly as if wondering what I would say, and Ella telepathically spoke to me.
'This sounds dangerous. But you'll agr—'
"I will go."
'ee…'
Even though I said it suddenly, no one was surprised. My answer was clear from the beginning. No matter what I'll face, or what it will take to get the cure for my mother, I won't hesitate to move forward.
"It's better if you go now. Reaching there will take at least ten days," Gresta said.
"We can't just go and leave Kafka behind," Arthur said.
Then, surprisingly, Kafka came out of Gresta's medicine room. On his back was a leather bag, and he was wearing a brown cloak over his white shirt and black pants.
"Is… something wrong?.." he said, questioning our surprised looks.
I looked at Gresta, who was covering her smiling mouth with her hands.
"Surprise!" she said.
It seems Gresta knew I would accept going, so she told Kafka to get his belongings ready.
We packed and carried our stuff. At the mirror, Gresta spoke with a smile.
"Before you go to the City of Tears, I advise you to head to the cave of the Village-Eater Serpent. I believe you'll find a great ally to help you against Elios. Also, before I forget, focus on Enhancement."
Enhancement? Isn't that what Zote talked about?
Before I could ask her, she pushed us into the mirror using wood from the nature element, and we found ourselves in Cake Village—no mirror behind us.
Speaking of Zote … I can't remember his face. But there's something more important, and that's Kafka's fast recovery. Unlike me, Kafka was completely injured and wasn't affected by the Mask of Eternity to heal as fast as I did.
He's strange. But now he's missing a hand because of that explosion.
"Before we go to the City of Tears, I want to visit a place we didn't spend enough time in," I said before starting to walk.
Luckily, we were nearby—near Spufius's Restaurant.
Their song was beautiful. If only Zote had delayed a little longer.
"Oh, you want to try their food?" Arthur asked.
"You could say that."
We entered the restaurant, now showing its true crowded form, and sat at one of the tables. We placed our bags next to our chairs, and soon the old owner of the restaurant came to us.
"I didn't expect your return," he said.
"How could we not come back to a place like this? I returned specifically for your coffee of dreams."
The man chuckled and said:
"You have fine taste, boy. Come with me, it's ready due to its high demand."
I told the three to wait for me and went with him. Indeed, it was ready. He poured four cups for me. But before going back, I used a very small fire on one of the cups. Ella noticed that but remained silent.
I returned to the table calmly and placed the cup I used fire on in front of Kafka. Then Arthur asked before taking a sip from his cup:
"What's all this suddenly?"
"Just a simple coffee before our next journey."
And finally, Kafka drank from the cup.
When Dream Coffee is exposed to Despaye, anyone who drinks it will speak truthfully about what the Despaye user wishes to know.
Kafka's eyes turned into something like a spiral, and he slowly lowered the cup and placed it on the table. He rested his hands on his lap and looked at me. I waited eagerly, but he didn't say anything.
This means Kafka himself doesn't know the reason behind his fast recovery.
"Kafka."
After I called his name, he returned to awareness. It was good that I was the only one who saw Kafka's eyes after he drank the cup, since I was the user who exposed the coffee to Despaye.
We continued drinking the coffee—and to be honest, it truly deserves all the admiration it gets. Its taste is amazing, giving a warm feeling like melted chocolate in freezing winter or when sick.
After we finished, we thanked the old man and set off on our new journey—to the cave of the Village-Eater Serpent.