Holly picked while rolling her eyes at the other witch. "Good news first. Obviously."
Caramel beamed and excitedly imparted. "The recipe, the young lord had given me worked! It was such a huge hit and Midnight Brew had been jam-packed for three nights straight!"
"Three nights?!" Aliester's eyes almost popped out. He thought that they had only been in the archives for a few hours. Just five hours at most, not three days or nights for that matter.
The dark-haired head witch turned to him and explained. "The time in the Forbidden Archives and in this realm are different. There are enclosed spaces where time runs slower than in real world."
"Isn't it supposed to be the opposite?" he asked. He had encountered from RPG's in Fahren that some enclosed spaces had different time. Time in enclosed spaces seems to move faster than in the actual game world.
He had watch anime and played games where the character spent months or years in the enclosed space and yet when he/she went back in his or her original world, it only took a few minutes or hours.
Holly replied. "There are also just like those. Enclosed spaces worked rather differently depending on the enchantment and time magic cast upon it."
"I never knew, we have gone for three days. It did not feel that long." He mumbled. He was a bit worried about his companions and the time that he has left to accomplish his tasks.
"It is hard to tell how much time had passed in that enclosed space and the time in this realm. So, it is quite understandable that you seemed bewildered." Caramel piped in.
Holly then shifted the topic back. "What is the bad news?"
This time, Caramel's cheerful disposition changed. Her face looked grave. "I have heard from some of my patrons. That there is chaos in the other kingdoms. The enclave has been infiltrated by that fake queen."
"What?!" Holly exclaimed in horror.
'What is the Enclave?' Aliester asked the system.
Zarame allowed some of the predecessors' memories to pour in before giving a concise background.
[Information: The Enclave or Enclave of kings is the alliance of several kingdoms. Usually the ruler of each kingdom served as representative in order to attend a monthly conference known as Treffen.]
The young lord would have asked for more information but Caramel turned towards him. Caramel addressed. "Young lord, you must make haste. The Duke of Alcove allowed you to escape to inform the other kingdoms of the queen's plan. But it seemed too late to warn the other rulers…"
Aliester stiffened. Fragments of memories had resurfaced and he could not help but feel bad. This was one of the missions his predecessor was given and he wasn't able to recall and accomplish it in due time.
Caramel added. "A treffen was held a few weeks ago and the queen managed to infiltrate their ranks through King Ignys."
"Good grief! Why would King Ignys allow such a thing?!" Holly turned a bit pale.
"He could have been controlled." Caramel incited.
"But that was not the worst. According to the informant, some of the heirs who went missing fell in the hands of that woman. Thus, the other rulers were caught in her trap."
After giving the needed information, Caramel ended the call. The mirror had reverted back to its normal visage.
"This is worse than I thought." Holly paced back and forth. "We usually do not meddle with other kingdoms affairs. But I got a huge hunch that we need to step in and help, since this would be a large scale dilemma."
"It would only be a matter of time before I would get summoned into the palace." The dark haired muttered. "No, it would be better for me to head to the palace than wait here."
After a few minutes, she stopped and took a calming breath. She then started getting ready.
Meanwhile, Aliester felt dejected. He slumped on one of the couches and sulked. "I have failed."
Upon seeing him looking miserable, Holly snapped. "Stop wallowing like that! It is unbecoming of you to just simply accept things like that. Besides, it is not too late yet."
"Then what should I do?" Aliester felt lost. He combed his blonde hair with his hands. Instead of becoming neat, his hair became a mess.
"The guardian had already given you the hint of traveling to realms. I already gave you a copy of the spell. You need to get the princess back here." She said while taking a few things and throwing them in a satchel.
"But what if I fail?" he could not help but be afraid. There are only few things that he had been frightened of, failing to meet one's expectation was one of them.
It reminded him of the things that he had gone through back in Fahren. "I hate failing. I had already let my old man and my self down before. I can't have that again."
"Stop thinking of what ifs…and avoid that pessimism" Holly said to him as if she was reprimanding a child. "You need to do what you can. You should never give up, you understand."
Aliester allowed her words to sink in. "You are right." The young lord slapped his cheeks to snap himself out of it.
"Which reminds me… the equivalent exchange I will be asking of you. You have to destroy the spell's copy after you use it."
Aliester nodded. He had already given her his oath. He would definitely make sure that he would fulfill it.
Then, Holly added with a grin. "Then, just like Caramel. I would like some of the recipes for food and beverages from the other realm."
Aliester was a bit taken aback. 'did I inform her that I am from Fahren?' He could not remember. 'no. that is not the issue.'
"Is it really all right for me to give you recipes in exchange for that forbidden spell?" he found it quite hard to believe.
The recipes that he had shared were not that special. Anyone can make that blend which can easily be researched from the net.
The spell he had been given was forbidden, he felt that the recipes may not be equivalent for the exchange.
Holly stopped throwing items into her satchel and turned towards him while sighing. "You really do not know how precious the knowledge from other realms are. A simple recipe from there could mean a lot here."
"Well if that is your what you want, then I'll be giving several of them to you." He said while taking a spare parchment and a quill from the desk. He then started writing the recipes.
'by the way, Zarame...' he addressed the system. 'why didn't you inform me about the mission that the Duke has given Aliester?'
[answer: Information retrieval had been delayed. Some fragments of the original's memories had been carefully hidden. Incase, you got caught and fall into the enemies, the enemies won't get the classified information.] came Zarame's reply.
Zarame further added. [Mephisto was in charge of some of the information but he died before he could give all of the details to you.]
Aliester could not help but feel bitter. He was clueless of the entirety of the actual mission. But ignorance was not an excuse.
'could you give me the details, whatever is available now?' he asked the system.
[Notice: accessing hidden memories initializing...]
Aliester could feel an incoming headache due to the gradual flooding of information. But this time he did not mind the pain. He managed to get most of the information that he needed for the mission.
Zarame then asked. [Uncleared Mission: deliver message to Marjoram's king. Accept or decline?]
'accept.'
He snapped out of his reverie when Holly called his attention. Zarame seemed to have other information ready but he had to pay attention to Holly.
"What are your plans, my lord?" Holly asked after she finished her impromptu packing.
"I have planned to look for the ingredients for the spell. But before that I must first talk to someone from Marjoram's court." He finally made his resolve. "I need to convey the message from the Duke, although it might seem late, but they need to know."
"Would you like to go together?" she asked. "I will have to go to the royals of Marjoram and aid them."