Throne Of Cards

The End Of The Beginning

Their investigation had them entering the slums, and as usual they were faced with signs of terrible― Or rather, contrary to expectations, an unexpected development resulted in Mohan proving useful.

"This place is super gentle for some reason. What is this... Could it be that my popular period has suddenly arrived?! For the first time since kindergarten!"

Mohan had very lovely features as a child, and his hair was long as well which caused him to be mistaken for a girl rather frequently. ― On the other hand, he'd ended up like this over 10 years later, so it wasn't really a laughing matter.

"Well, this is just a guess, but..."

"Let's hear it! If there's a scientific... Wait, since this is fantasy wouldn't it be magical? If there's a magical basis for this, I want to hear it."

"This probably isn't the answer you're hoping for, but it's probably because of your appearance. You're kind of filthy and you've got traces of blood on you, the people here seem to be struggling too so they probably find you relatable."

"I understand completely, damn it all!"

It now seemed obvious why they were all so friendly. Among them was an old lady who offered him a small dry fruit, saying "Eat this and live strong." When he nervously tried putting it in his mouth, he felt a slight sweetness under its hard surface. And then a terrible odor violently flowed out. The feeling of his nose being destroyed from the inside caused him to pass out.

"Damn it all! I thought she was being considerate but she poisoned me! That was poison! It's like my whole body is burning! I might seriously end up dying here! Or I might strip and end up dead from a social perspective!"

"Looks like you received a Bocco fruit. It stimulates the mana within you when you eat it, and accelerates healing and stuff. The effect varies by person, for most it's rather soothing..."

Eldia put a finger to her lip and went "Umm," as she watched Mohan heat up and sweat as he breathed ragged breaths.

"It seems to me that your body circulates mana very well. If you overdosed, you might die."

"Tell me that before I eat it! What do I doooo?!"

"Yeah... Pluck."

Responding to her call, Pluck emerged from within her hair. His movements were dull and his earlier liveliness had vanished. To put it simply, he was extremely sleepy.

It seemed like he wasn't even listening to most of their conversation, he rubbed his large eyes as he said,

"Whaaat? I'm at my limit, you know..."

"You'd better fill up before going to bed then. There's a feast for you right here."

As he felt a bit of bite to her words, Mohan realized Pluck was now looking at him, his sleepy eyes sparkling like he was looking at a delicacy.

"Can I really?"

"B-Be gentle."

Despite being a little worried that he was going to be chomped up, Mohan replied playfully. Pluck gave a vague response and then stretched his tiny body on Eldia's shoulder,

"Alright, let's eat."

Immediately after, Mohan felt whatever had been rampaging around inside him start to drain out in large quantities. It was hard to say from where exactly. If he had to say, it was like it was being drained out of every pore on his body, rather uncomfortable.

"That was quite the treat."

Pluck joined his hands in thanks. Mohan wanted to reply with something along the lines of, "You're more than welcome," but he suddenly felt a terrible chill throughout his body.