Chapter 88 - Talks over tea

Chapter 88: Chapter 88 - Talks over tea Whoa, this is... I’ve never seen such luxury in all my life. Both of them. I mean, I’ve been to some places that would be considered luxurious for the standards of Brazilian people, but in Europe they are at most ’upper middle class’ tier. But this... this is real luxury. As Mom tells my grans the story of her captivity and my flight and return with the rescue, I just look at everything around us. From the silverware to the golden embroidery on the perfectly white tablecloths, everything reeks of rich people. I’m so astonished that I can’t even focus on the conversation happening behind me. There are only the five of us here. Mom, the king, the queen, Lovelace, and me. Shalia probably left to attend to her other duties and report to the prince. He wasn’t at the throne room, now that I think about it. I wonder what the duties of a crown prince are. Or the duties of a princess like myself. Soon, we hear some commotion outside, and the door opens. A butler gives a simple yet dignified bow and proclaims. "Crown Prince Jyllian has arrived, Your Majesty." The guy comes in right after. "Sister!!" "Jyllian!!" I have an uncle now as well. This is something new. My family was always me and my father in the other life or me and my mother here. To have it expand so much is weird. Suddenly I have a grandfather, a grandmother, an uncle, and a second mother. I wonder when I will be able to see her again. He walks to the table and takes a seat, with the gait of a competent swordmaster. "So, you’re my little niece Aurea. Shalia told me about you when she saw you in the street in Amapytu. And I just learned from her that you were the one who broke into that stronghold. You seem really strong, despite your age." "Heh... It was nothing... the place just wasn’t well guarded." "That’s not true. I examined the place myself the following day. And also conducted some of the interrogation personally." My face is reddening as he talks. I don’t know how to deal with the compliments and always get too embarrassed by them. But, at the same time, I don’t want them to end. "At first I thought that it was the work of a professional adventuring party. What was my surprise when the guards said that it was all the work of a single little girl with flame-red hair." "So, you were already aware of this, son? And didn’t tell us anything?" "I didn’t have any proof, only speculation. I didn’t want to raise your hopes only to find later that they were unfounded. Forgive me, dad." Grandpa Halinard smiles and waves his hand dismissively. "It’s okay. This was the best surprise in my entire life." "Brother... I’m so glad to see you well... and to see how much you have grown and matured." "I’m also glad to see you well, little sis. Though I don’t know exactly how well you really are. You and Aurea both should go through a complete health checkup." Oh, a pragmatic prince. I like that. I look at Lillian, and she seems a bit distraught, with her eyes downcast for a split second. She quickly bounces back up and answers him with a smile. "That can wait for after we catch up, brother. There are so many things I want to know about how things have been in my absence... especially about Dad’s illness." Mom looks at me and Lovelace inquisitively. I can see what you did there, dear mother. You’re using the king as an excuse to switch the health talk away from yourself. I just hope that it doesn’t mean what I think that it means. But before I can question her, Lovelace talks. "IT’s as I suspected before, Lady Lillian. There is someone feeding on the king’s magical energy, and that is very likely the cause of the king’s condition." As everyone at the table, besides me and Mom, gasps, I close my eyes and extend my perception of magical energy and its fluctuations. While the mana of everyone else is stable and usual (Lovelace’s is a giant pool of black mana, but that’s how she always is), the king’s mana looks depleted. But more than that... there seems to be a vortex near his neck. It’s like when we drain liquid from a little opening on an airtight soft package. Its entire magical body is wrinkled like those packages get after the drain. It’s possible to see the very opening through which the energy is being drained. I say ’see’ because I have no better word to describe it. It’s not properly seeing, because it doesn’t pass through the eyes, but it’s the closest I can get to how it works. "Yeah, I can notice that, too. It’s being drained through a point at the back of your neck, exactly where the column and the cranium join together." "It’s the point where it’s easier to drain a person’s energy, so that much is expected." "Wait, please, explain it to me from the beginning." It’s the king asking the question that is in everyone else’s minds. I think that we just dropped a bomb. I look at Lovelace, and she looks back at me pleadingly, to which I nod. I know that she doesn’t feel very comfortable with explaining stuff to people. "King... huh, can I just call you grandpa?" "Yes, please. I’ll love that." His face sure took on a bit of color with that. He was a bit pale after Lovelace’s declaration, so I thought that it would be a good way to break the tension a bit. "Thank you, grandpa. In short, when Shalia explained your symptoms to us, Lovelace recognized them as being very similar to the ones people experience when mana is drained from them for a long period of time." "Is that true?" "I don’t have nearly as much experience as Lovelace herself. But, seeing your magical body right now, it’s clear that someone has been draining you." "So, if I manage to find the person doing it and put an end to it, will I be cured?" I don’t have the answer to that, so I look at Lovelace. She sighs and answers it. "Over time, yes. You will need some rest to recover your energy. But I think that it’s a matter of weeks before you get back to your normal self." "And are you able to track the culprit?" "Not right now. I would need to be near the culprit to detect that they have been feeding on someone. The other option would be to catch them in the act of feeding." "Have you seen someone like that in the audience today?" "No. There weren’t any bystanders with the habit of feeding on other people’s magical energy in the throne room today. Your son is clean as well." Hm, that’s something that, for now, only Lovelace knows how to detect. I have no idea what the magical body of a mana feeder looks like. Maybe something similar to her own mana body? She feeds on my magical energy, after all. "So it isn’t Gundmund as well..." "The court magician doesn’t have the necessary tools for doing it." "What do you mean?" "Only certain creatures are able to feed on magical energy directly. Humans and most other living beings can only ingest the energy through eating." "So, you’re saying that whoever is doing this is not human?" "Exactly."