Chapter 46: Chapter 46: Age

Reiki was carrying all the plates that were empty to the sink while Moranor still had a bowl that was filled with her poorly made vegetable stew. Reaching the sink he saw a metal faucet with a few elegant designs here and there, turning it on as the water started to pour out as he started to soak the dishes in water.

Turning the sink off he started looking around, he saw a sponge and some dish soap. Opening a couple of cabinets and a few drawers he found a sponge without an abrasive side and some liquid soap in a glass container that didn't have any labels, before he was able to use it he turned his head around and saw that Moranor was behind him with a smirk on her face as if she was waiting for a show.

Reiki said. "Is this used for washing plates?" Moranor's eyes widened for a bit as she let out a sigh and said. "No, we used that for baths. We use this." As she rummaged through the far left cabinet and pulled out a vase roughly the same size as a water bottle with a cork on the top, effortlessly pulling the cork off she handed the vase to him as she was standing next to him watching intently. 

Reiki placed the sponge and the glass filled with liquid soap next to the sink and carefully poured the contents of the vase without checking as something similar to water touched the plates he noticed the viscosity of it was a bit off. Moranor let out a chuckle and said. "Gotcha! What you have on your hand is some water boiled with a specific blend of herbs!" As she started laughing, Melanor was on her left with her signature sweet smile.

Melanor said. "What's so funny?" Moranor's hands were on her stomach as she tried to stop herself and said. "You didn't see it?! He used-." Moranor suddenly froze as she slowly turned her head to see her mother was smiling at her, as she rigidly turned her head forward she tried to take two quick steps but was easily caught by Melanor with her boots covered with a thin layer of mana. She said. "Go to your room. Now." She let go of her daughter as she started to quickly limp out of the room that was followed by the sound of someone going up the stairs and hitting a wall on the way up. 

Moranor shouted. "Ow!!" For a split second but then continued to limp her to her room. Melanor placed her hand on her cheek as she turned around with a kind smile and said. "I'm sorry about that Reiki-." But saw him sniffing the contents of the vase in his hand, after a couple of more whiffs he thought. It doesn't have any distinct smell… Reiki turned his head to face Melanor and said. "Is this medicine? I've never seen one that was almost similar to water before." He placed the vase next to the glass and sponge and used his bare hands to touch some of it that were on the plates.

Using his hand to feel the texture of it was the same as one of those toy slimes, as he used his thumb and his index finger he saw it was stretching and snapped when his hand was making a gun gesture. He licked the tip of his index finger to see how it tasted, Melanor seeing this, eyes widened as she tried to stop Reiki and said. "Reiki, wait!"

But it was too late, as he tasted it Reiki had a look of deep thought on his face, a few seconds passed and he made sure to spit everything on the sink. He said. "Is it me or does this taste familiar?" Melanor was giving him strange looks and said. "Doesn't it taste bitter?" Reiki nodded and said. "Very, it tasted like I drank some bitter gourd juice… Bitter melon if you want to get technical, I also tasted the skin of preserved blue… I wanna say underwater apple? And why does it taste somewhat familiar? I don't have any recollection of it."

Melanor stared at him before she clapped once and said. "Correct, I'm not gonna tell you the recipe but, I will give you how you humans say 'props' for being able to guess one of the core elements. The reason why it tastes so familiar to you is that we made you drink this while you were unconscious."

Reiki stared at the vase in his hand as he carefully placed the cork back on top, passing it to Melanor, he said. "I'm sorry for wasting some of it." As he used the corner of his eyes to look at what he spilled on the plates in the sink. Melanor gave him a gentle smile and said. "Don't mind it Reiki, I saw my daughter deceive you, no need to feel bad about it."

As he turned the faucet on he started washing the dishes using the sponge he added some liquid soap on it, he rolled his sleeves up, and started to clean the dishes. While doing the dishes he said. "Moranor-san will be cooking my meals during my short stay, no matter what she serves me I need you to ignore what she's trying to make me eat."

Reiki passed one of the wet dishes to Melanor as she opened a drawer and pulled out a drying cloth as she used it to wipe the water off the plate. With a smile on her face, she said. "Oh, and why is that?" Reiki was still doing the dishes. "We have a thing called-."

Melanor interrupted him and said. "Positive reinforcement, I'm not that old, I still know a thing or two about other cultures." As she let out a chuckle, Reiki said. "Are you sure it wasn't just you listening in our conversation?" Melanor almost dropped the wooden plate in her hands, Reiki continued. "Eavesdropping is not a desirable trait Melanor-san." Melanor turned her head to face him, Reiki kept his gaze on the plates he was washing. Melanor said. "How did you know?"

Reiki passing her another plate turned his head and with a small smirk on his face, he said. "Didn't until now." Melanor took the plate off his hands as she quickly dried it using the white cloth in her hands. She said. "Being smart is a good thing Reiki… Being too smart is a curse." Reiki nodded along and said. "I know, It was just hard to ignore my gut telling me someone was at the front door." Reiki passed her 2 wooden plates and one wooden bowl, Melanor took out another white fabric and passed it to him.

Using the drying cloth on the dishes in front of him he started to wipe them dry, Melanor said. "I'm guessing the reason your senses are so sharp is because of the incident. Here's my question though… What kind of experience did you go through that forced you to mature?"

As she dried the plate in her hands as she looked at him using the corner of her eye, Reiki let out one long big sigh as he used his right hand to rub the back of his back neck. Melanor noticed he looked tired, he looked like he was on the verge of collapsing any moment. He said. "When you have your back against a corner with nowhere to go… With nothing left to live for... You'd searched for… Anything… Anything to hold on to… You become desperate… With nothing left to lose… You would do things that no normal person would never even consider doing..."

Melanor was trying to see his expression but his eyes were covered by his unkempt and scraggly hair, he continued. "... After losing my bright future I learned the hard way that people will only treat you with respect if they stand to gain something from you… I learned that…" Melanor gently tapped his shoulder because she was getting worried about opening 'fresh' wounds from his past. She said. "Pass me the other plates, I'm done with mine."

Melanor's heartbeat was slowly rising when she saw Reiki turn his head towards her, when he looked at the plates that were already dried he looked up to face her, with his eyes still being the same he said. "It's fine, I'll do my share. You've treated my wounds and gave me a box of chocolates and… Food? And a roof over my head. The least I could do is help around."

As he gave her a bright smile, he started doing the dishes while humming a random song he liked from the future. Melanor ruffled his hair and said. "Alright, in that case, I'll go to Moranor's room and try to give her a few pointers to make sure you don't get food poisoning." As she walked out of the doorway, he said. "Thank you for your concern." Drying the last wooden bowl his eyes slowly turned hollow, he thought. I learned that human lives are priceless and at the same time worthless… 

Placing the wooden bowl where Melanor left the rest on the left of the sink, going back to where the table and chairs were he saw the bowl had some 'stew' in the center along with some bread and half a wedge of cheese.

Going out of the doorway he took a right and ended up in the living room, Reiki saw a large leather couch in the center with a purple rug underneath a coffee table, three large bookcases that reached to the ceiling that was filled with dozens of book of varying thickness, some of them looked fairly old but was well preserved a single row looked like it was bought a couple of years ago, and there was a window by the left side of the couch with some green curtains.

Looking around the room he thought. What is it with elves and wood? Aren't they supposed to protect the forest? Why build a house out of it? He stared at a random book on the third shelf as a thin blue ring was in his pupils again. The words on all of the spine of the books began to blur in his eyes, the blue ring started to change in thickness as the word began to turn into Japanese writing, placing his hand on the spines of the book he said. "How to lose weight, Elven beauty tips, and how to take care of your skin……"

All of a sudden he was pulled back from behind from something, he turned his head around and saw nothing as he turned to look at the books he saw Melanor was already blocking his view with her eyes filled with a mixture of worry and nervousness. She said. "R-Reiki! Do you like our small collection of books?" She pointed at all three of the bookcases as Reiki thought. This is supposed to be small? Most houses from humans don't even have a single book… Well, a single physical book in the future.

Melanor faked a cough and continued. "This row of books isn't mine, it's owned by my daughter." Reiki just stared in her eyes with a blank look and said. "I didn't ask." Melanor maintained the gaze as she didn't blink and said. "I keep telling her to keep her books in her room but she doesn't listen." She let out a nervous chuckle, Reiki was still staring into her eyes, keeping eye contact he said. "Melanor-san, the more you talk right now the more I would likely think you own those…"

Melanor faked another cough and said. "Is this the only row of titles you've seen, or?..." Her eyes nervously looked at all of the bookcases before her gaze dropped back to him, Reiki kept a neutral expression and said. "Melanor-san… Are all these books erotica?" The corner of Melanor's eyes twitched as the smile on her face turned rigid, she said. "Literature! Their literature! E-Erotic is just another way for a writer to express themselves, I just happened to read some in my spare time and was intrigued. So I try to understand the meaning behind it."

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The rings at his pupils slowly vanished as he said. "... I wonder how your guests feel being surrounded by… Literature." As he let out a chuckle and turned around and walked towards the stairs, Melanor was behind him and said. "Why are you trying to step on my daughter's tail?" While walking up the stairs.

Reiki said. "Honestly, I'm just trying to make sure she knows how to be a functional adult, she's… how old is she?" He stopped as he turned his around and looked up to face her, Melanor said. "Moranor's about 172 years old." Letting out a sigh she continued. "Time passes by so fast, it felt like it was only yesterday I was trying to make sure she didn't throw her diapers around the house when she was young."

Reiki saw the nostalgia in her eyes with a warm smile on her face, he said. "172? Then in terms of maturity of our respective species, she's not that older than me, someone really should have taught her how to do… Well, anything that doesn't involve weapons or training." He started walking up the stairs again and went through another doorway without a door, Melanor's eyes widened as she suddenly appeared behind him and said. "I didn't describe my daughter in detail in front of you."

Both of them took a left and passed a wooden door on the right and took a right and saw three doors, two on the left and one on the right with the door on the right being in the middle. He said. "No, you did not. I just remembered the conversation you guys were having when I woke up, I could've recalled the entire thing if my head didn't feel like it was being cracked open by a jackhammer."

Both of them stopped in the middle of the hallway, Melanor had a curious expression on her face and said. "You remembered the entire conversation between the two of us?" Reiki leaned on the wall and looked up to face her and said. "Not the entire thing, just a few sentences here and there. I only actually tried to memorize the conversation when I saw her frown, in a conversation between two individuals it's easier to fill in the blanks if you know a thing or two about…" Melanor's eyes narrowed as she waited for him to finish his sentence, he continued. "About… Moranor-san, is there something wrong?"

He turned his gaze on the door on the left where Moranor was peeking on them, Melanor turned her head to face her and said. "Is anything wrong dear?" Moranor slowly opened the door and said. "Is this conversation going to take longer? I need to use the bathroom." Melanor rolled her eyes and said. "We were just finishing up dear." Turning her head to face Reiki she continued. "You already know but you'll be sleeping in the guest room on the left."

She pointed at the room where he came out of. Nodding his head, he said. "Understood." He let out a small yawn and started walking towards the room that was temporarily assigned to him during his stay.

Reiki opened the door and went inside the room while Moranor went outside and took a left with the sound of a door being hastily opened and closed was heard shortly after. Melanor placed her hand on the doorknob on the door that was on the left side, she turned her head to stare at the door he went inside for a few seconds before going inside her room

…

Inside Melanor's room were another two bookcases reaching all the ceiling and in the middle was a large bed with a green blanket with a nightstand on each side, a simple wooden workbench next to a window. She walked up to the window and opened it, Melanor easily saw a shadow of a figure pass by and all of a sudden there was a thin stack of papers on top of the workbench that had a picture of Reiki on the top right and everything about him. Her eyes turned completely expressionless as she started to read through it.

…

Reiki walked into the same room he woke up in and saw nothing new, walking towards the bed he sat down and started to remove his shoes. He felt the same force that entered his body leave, but this time he didn't react and continued to remove his shoes along with his socks. Placing his shoes beside the nightstand as he laid down facing the ceiling, the only light source he had was the moonlight that was coming from the window.

The voice said. [Good you're alive, looks like you didn't fuck up.] Letting out a yawn he turned on his right side and slowly closed his eyes, he thought. I mean all I needed to do was get on their good side right? The voice said. [Just don't do anything stupid. Elves are very prideful, both of them are just probing you for information the entire time to test your character, and judging by the lack of arrows behind your back you passed for now.] He thought. How is their relationship with humans? The voice said. [You should already know.]

Reiki focused on his hearing as it slowly improved, soon he was able to hear faint sounds of water trickling down a faucet and the sound of paper being flipped over. With a bit more concentration he heard two heartbeats besides his, a few moments passed he heard another heartbeat outside that was slower. He thought. So someone was keeping watch over me… The voice said. [He slowed down his heartbeat considerably, but your instincts were still able to sense him.]

He thought. It was fairly hard to suppress my urge to turn around and look for him or her, but I managed. And with that elf keeping watch over me means that humans and elves don't get along. The voice said. [Can't blame them.] He thought. Agreed. The voice said. [Why is that?] Reiki thought. Elves don't need to kidnap humans for anything other than to trade them for other elves who are slaves to humans. Humans on the other hand would buy an elf as a symbol of their status, just another way to flaunt their wealth and power in front of others… But if there are more elves like Melanor-san, and if they were to travel outside the city, they would be dead the moment night falls. He kept his breathing steady as he pretended to sleep on the bed.

The voice said. [How exactly are you getting access to their library? Elves value knowledge over everything else.] He thought. That's the easy part. The hard part would be persuading someone with authority to lend me their help… But that could only happen if they let me in the library… Hopefully, Melanor wouldn't mind me tagging along to go grocery shopping with her. The voice didn't reply as he slowly drifted off into a deep slumber, he faintly heard the sound of a door opening and closing outside the room but ignored it since it was just Moranor coming from the bathroom and going to her room.

~7 And A Half Hours Later~

The moon passed its highest point in the middle of the sky as Reiki turned on the bed to face the ceiling, he let out a big yawn as he got up from the bed, put on his shoes, and started doing his usual exercise in the room. 

Carefully opening the door he went down the stairs normally and went outside the house, Melanor's door was slightly open as she saw him going out at this odd hour. She thought. That's strange, his footsteps didn't make a single sound… Her body was enveloped in a thin layer of mana as she slowly vanished and followed him.

Reiki carefully opened the front door and started stretching, Melanor was still invisible but appeared on top of a tree with a clear view of Reiki. She started to softly tap on the tree in a certain rhythm and soon a figure wearing a black robe with his hood appeared next to her crouching while his gaze was on the boy.

The hooded figure quietly whispered. "Your order commander." Melanor whispered back. "Keep an eye on him." Suddenly Reiki sprinted at full speed and the hooded figure beside Melanor followed him, leaving her sitting on the branch waiting to see what happened.

~20 Minutes Later~

The hooded figure was back on the branch where Melanor was still invisible, the hooded figure was gasping for breath as parts of his robe were sticking to his skin. In between words he took a deep breath saying. "Com… Mander… I… Think… He… Is… Exercising…" Melanor was staring at Reiki who was still sprinting at full speed around the forest, she said. "U-Understood, go back to the division and have someone take your place." The hooded man nodded as he slowly went off the branch and walked deeper into the forest.

~40 Minutes Later~

Reiki's green tunic was sticking to his skin as he was heavily breathing at the front of the two-story house. He was taking deep breaths to calm his breathing down but felt someone grab his shoulder which made him scream at the top of his lungs. "WHAT THE!!" He turned his head around and saw it was Melanor.

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