As always, Giliath demands your power stones!
*****
A few moments prior to Professor Schmidt dropping the name of one of Daybreak's leading characters...
Back at Valflame Palace.
Princess Alfin's Room.
Late at night.
A large circular bed could be seen further in the back, with many drapes going around the entire bed. The drapes weren't folded, which signaled that they were in use. The circular bed here was almost as large as the circular bed back at Naoto's private quarters with Kloe in Grancel Castle. If one heard closely, a peaceful snoring could be heard striking against the drapes. A lilac-haired ten year old girl was currently sleeping peacefully inside the massive covers. Pillows upon pillows littered the bed, as did many stuffed animals. The girl was Sherryl, and she has been out like a light since she had her spar against Naoto back at the Vander Dojo. Her use of her special skill, Doping, completely ate away her stamina. While not impacting her negatively, she was entirely drained. Thus, Sherryl has been in a deep sleep for the past eight or so hours, and it was likely she was going to continue sleeping through the night.
Even if one lifted Sherryl's eyelids open, she wouldn't wake up from it.
Seeing that Sherryl wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, Naoto made a judgement call and decided not to disturb her slumber. With that, Naoto instead made his way toward the other end of the room, where a couple of desks could be seen. Likely Princess Alfin's personal study. A large bookshelf with several books could also be seen off to the side. There were many popular stories across Zemuria, and it would seem Princess Alfin liked to collect many of them. She even had the entire collection of Red Moon Rose. While not explicitly stating this series was about Roselia, it basically hinted toward that, as it was about vampires assaulting Heimdallr some time after the War of the Lions.
While Naoto admired Princess Alfin's book collection, he set up his orbal laptop, letting out its vermillion splendor. The symbol of Liberl's insignia could be seen on the back of the laptop, Princess Alfin showed an equal surprise, as there weren't many orbal laptops circulating the market as of yet. Orbal tech was still fairly new. With the start of the next decade, it would be fifty years since orbal tech became a reality by Professor Epstein.
Thankfully Naoto knew how to operate a laptop thanks to his past life. The tech found in Zemuria was very reminiscent of his past life, even if it used a different type of energy.
That in itself posed a problem though. Tech like laptops haven't been fully developed yet.
There were no app stores. There was no generalized internet yet. The Orbal Network itself was still in its infancy, letting its invisible radio waves get strung all across the lands. Companies like Micros*ft and Goog*e didn't exist either. What replaced all of them from Naoto's past life was the Epstein Foundation.
If Naoto wanted to develop apps, he would have to code them from the get-go. Thankfully he had like-minded individuals and excellent talents available to help him if he needed to. Right now, he was mostly using his laptop to keep track of his growth. Not many apps could be seen on Naoto's laptop as he used it during this down time. Seeing Naoto effortly use something so foreign drew Princess Alfin's interest even more. And just using it wasn't the only thing Naoto had in mind, as he was helping out a certain someone doing said connection tests when he found free time to do so. With Tio Plato no less.
Princess Alfin and Lechter just watched on as Naoto began to set up a wide-range receiver, only to start beeping not too long after. Roselia just lazed away on the bed, but made sure to keep her actions to a minimum to not disturb Sherryl. And it was an astounding success. Naoto didn't need to utilize any apps. After typing away for some moments, the equivalent of a video call appeared on screen, and he was greeted with Tio's face.
With another successful connection out of the way, Naoto and Tio were able to converse for a while, catching up on matters. Lechter did Lechter things again, blurting out unnecessary information, but in a way, it led to a good thing. Thanks to Lechter's 'persuasion', Naoto successfully invited Tio to partake in the Vermillion Trials. His party was already starting to shape up. Naoto had also wanted to recruit his party he had previously gotten as well. The only variable that he didn't know whether or not that person would come or not, was Van.
But like this, Naoto and Tio were able to converse for a while, bringing Tio more joy, even though she wasn't directly there next to Naoto. Naoto also found Jona's shocked look funny, as he knew Jona didn't expect to get connected to Princess Alfin's room no less. Naoto took a moment to introduce Princess Alfin to everyone, which drew more surprise. Still, Naoto was grateful to Jona, as while not appearing on the outside, he knew Jona was a friend to Tio.
If things played out as it did in the original games, Jona would just become a recluse, likely getting fired from the Epstein Foundation outright, and became unable to finish his studies there. Tio was now with him thanks to being recruited by the Epstein Foundation early on, and since Naoto knew the two were acquainted, even though Professor Schmidt threatened to fail Jona if he failed his testing here, he probably wouldn't dismiss Jona from the foundation. After all, Jona's talents were still top-tier, even if they weren't on Tio's level.
After recruiting Tio to join him in the Vermillion Trials in a month's time, to which Tio would request some time off from the Epstein Foundation, Tio appeared to bring another piece of news to Naoto, something that Naoto wasn't expecting to hear anytime soon. It was Naoto's turn to be surprised this time.
"It was very nice to meet you like this, Your Highness. And Naoto, thank you for giving me another chance to stay by your side. I do have a bit of news here in Crossbell City. Would you be interested in hearing it?", Tio asked, which drew my interest.
"Something is happening in Crossbell City? I don't think it sounds like it will be anything bad since it's coming from you Tio, but you definitely perked my ears up. What is it, exactly?", I decided to ask.
"Someone recently returned back to Crossbell City, and I think you know her. It only lasted for a brief moment since we were on the boat back then, but I still recall what she looked like. Recalling her name, it was Elie if I remember it right?", Tio said with her normal deadpan look, tilting her head to the side. Yet just hearing the name Elie alone caused my eyes to turn wide.
"Are you saying Elie's back in Crossbell!?", I blurted out with a surprised look. Princess Alfin blinked her eyes to my shock, not expecting me to react like this.
"Who is this Elie person, Big Brother? Someone you know?", Princess Alfin asked me. That made sense, she wouldn't know anything about Elie. She has been out of the picture for quite some time now. It sure was a surprise to see Elie on that airship, being escorted by Kevin's group no less. But considering that was an airship of the Septian Church, I could guess where her destination was. Even Lechter raised his eyes hearing that.
"Oho, so that little mademoiselle has returned, eh? This is turning more interesting by the minute. It's been a while since I last saw her. Not since the island visit yeah?", Lechter asked. Jona just stared at the screen.
"Seriously, you are in on this too? Just what happened at this so-called island!? Man, I hate being out of the loop...", Jona retorted again.
"Something you don't need to know, Jona. But yes, it is true, Naoto. I caught Elie coming out of the nearby police department. Not sure for what exactly, but I saw her being escorted by some detectives. Think one of the detectives called himself Guy?", Tio tilted her head, trying to recall a scene that had previously taken place. What Naoto didn't know was that Tio did in fact catch a glimpse of Elie coming out with Guy and a group of their own, coming out of the CPD the night before, likely to celebrate the new year. Tio and Jona kept to themselves during the celebration, and since it is now one day later, Tio was now back beneath IBC's building at the basement level.
"Elie really is back at Crossbell City then...", I murmured to myself, while also recalling what Tio had additionally mentioned just now. And it would seem she has already gotten acquainted with Guy too, which meant Guy had also returned. I do know that he frequented Calvard to visit his younger brother, Lloyd Bannings, but he still had his primary job of being a detective.
And it's not like I haven't met Guy Bannings before. In fact, Guy was a major help in helping out the extermination quest of the DG Cult. His entire squad, along with several other officers of the CPD, assisted in clearing out the remaining bases of the cult. The hand I played a part in was revealing the locations of several bases that I knew existed. It was a shame I didn't know them all, but seeing the results of that happening, it sounded like they routed most of the bases back then. I haven't heard of any incidents of children being kidnapped as of late, which was a very good thing to hear.
Still, Elie was back at Crossbell City, eh?
Just knowing that was a smile to my face.
Unlike other characters I have come across here in Zemuria, Elie was one of the first people I've personally encountered.
Elie was what one would call a childhood friend. We've known each other since we were tiny little kids. A brief period of time where Giliath, Rean, Kasia and I were under one roof. Elie would come over every so often to play with us. Yet at some point, she stopped coming over entirely, and that was when our home was raided by the Red Constellation. It wasn't that her family was behind the matter, quite the opposite. We warned the MacDowells not to come anymore in fear of what would happen, which turned out to happen after all.
It would seem Elie had finally finished her studies at the intended place she wanted to go to after boarding that airship, which turned out to be the headquarters of the Septian Church, the city-state known as Arteria.
Yet at the time, I didn't know Elie had undergone a change, which I didn't know would be for better, or for worse. That is, joining the Septian Church, becoming a Squire to the squad that collects artifacts all across Zemuria, the Gralsritter.
Quite the unexpected news coming from Tio, but it certainly made me happy. I had even more of an incentive to head down to Crossbell City now. I can only imagine the look on Elie's face when I arrive.
*****
Just in case it wasn't clear the previous Crossbell chapter pov was Tio's pov, now we're back to Naoto's pov. It will be Naoto's pov going forward.
It's a lot easier shown in the games since its just split by a computer screen lol.