Chapter 2067: Departing Bleulle
Althea and Garan continued to go around and rested early so they could also leave early. They learned that the teleportation array departure had specific times of operation to maximize each use.
After all, the aether crystals consumed during transpo would be taken from the departure side.
The day’s schedule had already passed, so they could only spend the night.
They decided to check into the hotel made from an aether blueprint. It was quite nice and clean. The designs were a bit intricate, bordering on kitsch, but an understandable aesthetic.
In many cultures, the more complex the decor, the higher the status. Coordination didn’t matter; the more the better. This particular hotel exemplified this mindset.
As always, Garan lifted the mattress and placed it at the side, placing their own, cleaner and softer alternative before finally heading to bed.
Their trip to Warrior City the next day should’ve been straightforward.
The unfortunate part was that, for some reason, Bleumrick blocked the teleportation array!
"Any news as to why?"
"No."
For a moment, they thought that the old man had found out they were there and wanted to annoy them.
After dealing with Valov, they allowed the toolmakers and alchemists to invite whoever they wanted to Alterra or tell people where they were, if they wanted to. People already knew them anyway, so they took advantage to gain more talent.
The guilds were already taking shape now, and soon official guilds would be operational. Expanding influence was only a matter of time.
Unsurprisingly, Hoffen, Kalfene, and the others had indeed managed to seduce a handful of new talents to Alterra—and a good portion of them were from Bleulle.
Bleumrick was naturally annoyed. But because Naia openly supported them, he could only grit his teeth for now. Annoying them by making things inconvenient would not be a surprise.
Further, if he blocked the array, did he think they’d go on foot and would be easier to set up accidents?
Unexpectedly, they found out very quickly that Bleumrick still had no idea they were there at all. The blockage was due to totally different things.
They figured this out by lurking outside the area and saw a crowd of people there. They, too, were supposed to head out.
"The teleportation array is blocked? Why?" a noblewoman complained to the guard, not reconciled. "Don’t you know who I am? I am one of the highest noblewomen in Hassen City!"
"We apologize. We are closed for a few days. The hotels are now 20% off for people who have reservations in the teleportation array. Please understand."
Similar complaints echoed around. Those who could afford to use the array were naturally not poor, so they couldn’t be ’bullied’ easily. Bleulle naturally had to compensate.
It made the couple wonder: What was Bleumrick doing to willingly suffer such a loss?
...
A distance away from the array, a small thing was hidden underneath the shrubs, his beard somewhat entangled with the leaves.
This was Taiso, a dwarf. After a lot of risks and injuries, he had managed to escape from Bleumrick’s workshop, heading straight to here.
He wasn’t going to use it. After all, the City Lord from the other side could be alerted by his presence. What was the point of escaping?
Rather, he was there to mess up the teleportation array.
This array had self-repair abilities, but some dwarves had the skills to temporarily mess it up. ’Temporary’ effects could range from a few hours to weeks, and Taiso happened to specialize in this, so he could really ruin it for a while.
It was also why he went straight to this array rather than do other, possibly less risky, things to achieve his goals. It was because his inheritance was related to it, so he could only make use of it.
The goal was not just to get petty revenge. He wanted to make a big enough distraction so he could really leave, maybe with a few of the goblins who trusted him enough to come.
Sadly, when Bleumrick was making promises to them, he had to disclose his abilities, so the old bastard managed to prepare for it.
Tsk!
...
"What is it?" Garan asked his wife, who was looking in a direction. She was staring solemnly in the direction of a park. However, by the time Garan went to look, there was nothing there anymore.
Althea shook her head, grabbing her husband’s hand to head to the Mercenary Hall. The teleportation array was closed indefinitely, then they would just have to take a few missions.
Making some calculations, they had to take an extra jump (and therefore an extra mission) to reach Warrior City.
The mission they found was a recurring one, heading to a town thousands of kilometers East of Bleulle.
It was to gather the Elysean fruit, a tiny fruit that specifically only grew in the far east region, which was also one of the ingredients for Hoffen’s Limb Regeneration potion.
The name of the fruit sounded a lot like the stone. They wondered if there was an etymological connection, but that’d be something they might never be clear on.
Anyway, the fruit was a material they wanted a lot of and had a lot of use, so they could do the mission and collect as much as they could at the same time!
This fruit wasn’t something that could be grown or domesticated, though the reasons for now were still unknown. It was a wild fruit through and through.
Althea, Thorance, and dozens of other wood users had tried various things to the seeds they collected, but nothing grew enough to be usable. Even a wood user like Althea couldn’t grow it back then.
She hadn’t tried yet with her upgraded wood ability because the seeds had ’expired’, no longer productive. Again, the reason was still unclear for now.
Perhaps, finding the fruit in its home place could grant Althea clues on how to grow it.
Who knows? Maybe the limb-regenerating potion would become easily accessible in the future.
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