PftA Book 4 - Chapter 46 - What Are Friends For?

The ‘ball’ dragged on for hours, though not once did I see anyone actually dancing.

By the end of the gathering, I’d met almost everyone in attendance, though it was not through any initiative of my own. It was almost like they’d drawn numbers and were taking turns approaching me.

Having my mentor standing next to me for most of the evening helped to buffer some of the more… enthusiastic attendees, though nobody did anything that was overtly untoward.

One of the more interesting attendees was a Mid-Tier Nine satyr who was reportedly going to be former Councilor Arona’s replacement. He’d been busy delving Tier Nine rifts on Sira to reach the Tier Ten requirement, but he seemed happy enough for the break.

From his attire, I assumed he was from one of the sect territories as opposed to one controlled by nobles. That made a certain sort of sense since Arona was also from a sect-run territory. It was probably the same one, in fact.

The soon-to-be councilor was starkly different from his future counterparts, and I found it interesting to see him interact with the stuffier older councilors.

A few times, I thought a fight would break out right there in the middle of the ballroom. But somehow, Anya always seemed to be right there to smooth things over.

No wonder the Council was so keen on having her with them full-time.

“So, how was it?” Zavira asked when I exited my room after changing.

She must have sensed my arrival because the movie she’d been watching was already paused. Zavira didn’t stay in my demesne often, especially not without me there, but I’d offered to let her take advantage of the time dilation to extend her limited free time since I could tell that she needed a break.

“It was fine,” I said as I collapsed into my favorite recliner. “I felt pretty out of place most of the time. Even having Kai there didn’t really help.”

I wasn’t surprised, though. I’d been surrounded by the most important and powerful people in the Alliance. I still wasn’t quite sure why I’d been invited in the first place, aside from the notoriety of my status.

“You’re probably going to have to get used to it,” Zavira said. “I expect you’ll find yourself at more of those, especially if you stick around after reaching the Pinnacle.”

She wasn’t wrong. That didn’t make me like such events any more.

“So, you’re meeting with Marra and Riley next week?” Zavira asked as she offered me a plate holding an assortment of small food items.

I grabbed a strange-looking cookie and nodded in thanks. Though I wasn’t particularly hungry, I was always willing to try something new.

“I am. Do you want to come with me? You and Marra got along pretty well before.”

Zavira shook her head. “Nah, that’s okay. I’ve got a lot on my anvil next week. Avana is progressing well, so I’m going to start doing more one-on-one training with her.”

“Yeah? How’s that going?” I asked as I swallowed my first bite of the weird cookie. I’d expected it to be sweet, but the cookie surprised me by being rich and savory.

I was still a little surprised that Zavira had already taken a disciple, though I probably shouldn’t have been. It was easy to forget that Zavira had been living outside of the dungeon for more than two decades.

“It’s going well,” Zavira said with an amused expression at my reaction to the cookie. “She’s a quick learner and very creative. I look forward to seeing what kind of items she’s producing in a few decades.”

My expression dimmed a little when I thought about how I’d be in the dungeon by then. I’d only get to see pictures or maybe videos of the girl’s progression, if even that.

“What’s wrong?” Zavira asked, seeing the shift. After spending so many years together, we were both quite sensitive to the other’s moods.

“Nothing, really. I was just thinking about how much I’ll miss when I’m back in the dungeon.”

“You know, nothing says you have to ascend right away,” the half-dwarf reminded me. “With your affinity, you can spend a millennium or more experiencing everything this realm has to offer once you reach the Pinnacle.”

“If I do that, you’ll have to catch up so we can ascend together,” I said with a weak smile. “I can totally understand why Kai would want a companion to ascend with. The thought of shifting to a whole new reality all alone is… daunting.”

Yet, somehow, there was never any doubt that I would eventually ascend. It just seemed like an eventuality.

Whether or not others might make it there with me was far less certain.

“Maybe I will,” Zavira said playfully as she reached for the tablet that controlled the movie displayed on the far wall. “I’m in no hurry now to climb to the top, but I do hope to someday see what the next realm has to offer.”

= = =

“Emie!” Marra said excitedly when I walked into the café where we were meeting. “You look so different with dark hair!”

The dungeoneer gave me a quick hug, as did her Earthborn husband. They quickly ushered me to the table where they already had drinks waiting.

“It was a side effect of cultivating Arcane mana in a mana well,” I said as I slid into a chair.

I ran a hand through my unbound hair, pulling a handful forward to look at the dark strands. I didn’t really ay much attention to my hair anymore unless someone called attention to it.

“Yeah, I noticed the shift to black robes,” Marra said lightly. “Are you making some kind of statement with those? I thought your sect wore white.”

“White and lavender are the primary colors since the sect specializes in Time and Fate,” I explained. “The others still wear black for training, but I guess I’m a bit of an oddity.”

We spent a few more minutes making small talk, with Riley contributing occasionally. After our orders were delivered by the waitress, Marra finally brought up the conception charm. I could tell she was eager to obtain the item.

“It might take a little bit to work,” I warned the couple before going into a bit more detail about the limitations of the charm after I handed it over.

“That’s fine,” Marra said, waving my warnings aside as her eyes took in the details of the enchanted item. “We have monitors for the rest of it.”

“Thank you, by the way,” Riley said as he took his wife’s hand. “It means a lot to us.”

“What are friends for?” I asked with a smile.

While I didn’t want to be used for my enchantments, I didn’t mind helping my friends out occasionally. And I’d been gone for a really long time.

Besides, I really did want to test the design before giving one to Zavira as a gift. What better test was there for a conception charm than a couple who was struggling to conceive?

Once the excitement of the charm had passed, we spent the rest of our time at the café discussing the pair’s experiences since I last saw them in the dungeon.

They’d spent enough time on the eighth floor to get a feel for what it was like, and both had agreed that they would rather use rifts to level than return to the isolation of the dungeon.

“It’s a shame that we’ll miss out on the awesome Trial rewards, but it just isn’t worth it to us. Maybe someday in the future, that’ll change,” Riley said, though he didn’t look like he believed it.

I didn’t blame them, given their plans to start a family. I had to wonder how many dungeon challengers left the dungeon with similar plans and never ended up returning.

Probably most of them, if the number of challengers on the eighth floor was any indication.

We exited the café and started walking toward a pair of floating towers. They appeared to be connected by bridges at several points.

“How do you like living on Celtor?” I asked. “It’s very… futuristic feeling. Almost steampunk.”

Riley’s face split into a huge grin. “That’s what I said! Marra didn’t understand it until I got ahold of some of Earth’s old media. Did you know they have a library full of everything on Earth? It’s like someone made a copy of the internet and saved it all.”

“Minus the garbage,” I said knowingly.

“Well, yeah,” Riley conceded. “But they saved most of the good stuff. You just have to know how to access it.”

I could only imagine what kinds of things Riley had looked up when he found a copy of Earth’s old internet.

A version of it still existed, of course, though the information contained had to be validated through the system. It still allowed for fiction and opinion pieces, but those were clearly marked.

Theories and ‘old science’ were also clearly marked to ensure nobody accessing the data mistook it for being accurate outside of a mana desert. Since mana changed the properties of a lot of compounds, it was an important thing to distinguish.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Riley said. “Marra thinks we should move to Astra when we start having kids, but we haven’t made a decision yet.”

“What about your party?” I asked.

“They’ll probably replace us,” Marra said with a shrug. “They aren’t interested in slowing down and starting families just yet.”

“I think Jolo might change his mind,” Riley interjected. “He’s been seeing that girl from the guild.”

“The Tier Four receptionist?” Marra asked with wide eyes. Riley nodded. Shaking her head, Marra asked, “Since when?”

I smiled as they discussed their teammate’s love life. Though I didn’t particularly care about the topic, I enjoyed listening to them talk about something so mundane.

“Well, this is us,” Marra said, motioning toward one of the floating towers. A crystalline staircase led from the street to the entryway. “Did you want to come up? The view from our apartment is pretty amazing.”

“Maybe next time,” I said. “I’m supposed to meet someone on Sira in a bit. She’s probably already waiting for me.”

Riley winced at the news. “The closest interplanetary portal hub is a couple of cities over. It’ll probably take a while to reserve a connection.”

My face split into a grin. “Did you forget my affinities?”

“No, but you’re talking about another planet,” the Ice Mage said with a hint of confusion. “Don’t tell me you can teleport between planets now!”

“Of course I can,” I said with a chuckle. “As long as I know where I’m going, distance doesn’t mean much.”

Marra and Riley both shook their heads. The action was almost synchronized.

“That’s…” Riley trailed off, struggling to find the right word.

“Impressive,” Marra finished for him. “It’s very impressive. Your affinities are very strong.”

My smile dimmed. I’d never much cared for making others jealous.

After a few more exchanges and a promise to keep in touch, I hugged them both and teleported to Sira. The transition to the time-dilated world was a bit rougher than teleporting between other worlds, but I was used to it by now.