'Hey system, there is something weird about this timeline. Isn't the MC's sidekick currently too young?' Iris could not help but feel this fact disturbed her.
Had she missed something obvious?
Now, she was not someone who had read the original novel till the end but she had gotten quite far into it. How could she make a mistake like that?
'User is informed that the Narlian breed of Elves age differently from humans.
The age equivalent to 4 human years till their 20s and then age equally slow'
No, wait, when did that happen? Wasn't the MC's sidekick a human as well? Was that not why they bonded? Because she was the first human he saw?
Or was it another novel? Or was it the game adaptation changing it? There was just so much mismatched material in this book.
There was also the fact that the original book had to be translated into English which could have severely messed up the details.
No, it was not the main point here. That would not matter for new more years.
What did matter was the special paper in the system shop she had bought to finish her preparations. She needed to prepare it and cure it with magic.
The curing process required one to saturate the special paper with enough magic till it started soaking it up and begin transforming into its true form.
A normal piece of paper had a very low magical limit but this special paper was made from a tree soaked in cultivation water. It could take to magic easily.
To condense magic was a skill only healers learned but not every healer could do it.
Most generally took the easy way out and mixed it with a viscous liquid to get a dense solution for curing. But not Iris.
She was better than them all and she forced the magic in her surroundings to condense into the small container she had left in front of her.
There was not much magic to be condensed inside the toward due to the spacial distortion around but the small amount she had been able to condense would have to be enough.
The paper was soaked and now it was time to let it condense. The bathroom cabinet would be the best place to hide it and that was what she did.
As soon as Iris closed the bathroom door behind her, the front door opened as well and Rose entered the room.
"Rise and shine. Aren't you bored in here? Lucky for you, you get to go outside today. Rachael said she is free to accompany us into town to buy supplies" Iris forced herself not to cheer.
This was a golden opportunity to have a real look at things. The curing paper would also be finished by then. But something did not feel right.
This timing was suspicious.
"I don't believe this is for free. What are you planning to have me do?" nothing this good came free and Iris was not one to believe in good luck.
Rose's expression turned sheepish and she let out a startled laugh. Clearly, Iris was right about this situation.
"Don't worry about things. It's nothing big, I promise. We are just going to visit that old couple once again. Don't you want to see them again? To make sure they are ok? And maybe also heal a few more people?" this was unexpected.
But maybe they were looking for a connection here. To see if they could use Iris or not.
"Why would I want to see that couple again? We have no connection with each other beyond the obvious one" There was a slight twitch in Rose's mask.
"Really? That was a lot of effort for someone you did not even know. Are you like this with all your patients?" Rose was obviously trying to dig deeper but too bad for her.
Iris was not going to tell her anything.
"I have pride as a healer. Don't you try your best once you take a job?" Iris asked and she saw that calm and laughing expression fade to something unknown.
"I do what I am instructed to. Not everything is in my hand. But I see what you mean" and as soon as that tone had come, it faded away into that joyful mask again.
"Anyway, be ready in the evening. Rachael will be there so it will be fun" this trip was going to be a bother and Iris would have to be really careful with it.
But it was also an opportunity to convey a message to the old couple.
Iris needed them to snoop around and replace the holy jade in her place. She also needed insurance that they would not betray her.
Just thinking about all this made her head hurt but it was a necessary evil.
'Beep, Beep.
The timer user set is over'
Iris did not jump at the sudden voice inside her head, her body just moved on its own. This was the excuse she gave herself as she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart.
Since the alarm was set, it was time for her to see her end product.
The paper was soaked through but still in a decent shape. The earlier white had soaked to become a lovely lavender and it was a perfect shade.
Too bad, there were only 3 copies that had turned out decent. The rest of them were all wasted in the effort.
The sun was right up in the sky so it should be around noon right now. There were a few hours still left before Iris had to head out with the commission people.
Being inside the room felt suffocating but it was a necessary evil. It was all toward her goal to return home and she could not fail it.
Not if she wanted her original body back in the future.
'System, is there a library in this town?' that had been the original purpose of visiting this place - to gather intel.
'The system regrets to inform the user that there is no library in this village.
The nearest library is in the fog city Oreta.'
The fog city? Let's forget about it for the time being.
It was a criminal hub and Iris had no plans of being gutted just yet. Oreta would be a place that only desperate visited and was also a place without any law.
It was also important to Iris but had never been expanded upon in the novel. Not up till the point Iris had read at least.
"Hello, I'm back. Are you ready? Ready to go?" the door opened with a bang as Rose entered the room with a cheerful laugh.
Just where did she get all that energy from? And why was she in here so early? Didn't she say evening? weren't there still a few hours left?
And most importantly -
"You came back so fast? I don't think even an hour has passed" Iris was hoping for a few more hours in peace.
"Well, I was but then the schedule changed. We are going out now" There was a devilish grin on the other female's face. It had all been pre-planned by this devil.
This was a psychological tactic by Rose, wasn't it? She did it on purpose to get Iris off balance and to make her more susceptible.
"Give me a few minutes to change. I will be with you shortly" remain calm. She had to not show any weakness in front of this person.