In A Noble Magic Academy, The Only Spell I Know Is Scan

"You're a real hard person to get a hold of, Zinnia." Hyacinth sighed heavily.

"I've been trying to stay hidden while I work on the core hack." Zinnia sighed as he sat down on a crate, "I've seen the chaos unfolding but I'm short on the details. Let's exchange reports."

"Way to sound like the boss already." Scabius scoffed, "Should we start bowing in your presence too, my lord?"

"Don't listen to Scabius, he's just been cranky." Hyacinth said quickly, "We've all been a bit stressed with all the going ons."

"Shall I go first then?"

"I imagine yours would be much shorter." Nasturtium yawned.

"True." Zinnia shrugged, "The details are more complex than I can take the time to delve into. But suffice it to say that I believe I'm very close to finally breaking into the core room."

"Five days." Nasturtium mused, "I don't know if I am supposed to impressed or not."

"Most folk wouldn't even know about the core room, let alone be invited to see it. Regardless, I've chosen to appear now since it's about time to discuss how to move once we are in the core room."

"I don't think we'd be able to help much in deciphering the changes to the core." Hyacinth frowned, "But..."

"You want to be there to find out the truth as well?" Scabius guessed.

"Don't you?"

"Well, you're not wrong." Scabius shrugged, "But it's really up to Zinnia if we do or not."

"If you can gather inside the cradle without anybody following you I have no problems with bringing you along."

"We can do that." Borage nodded.

"I mean, we can, I don't know about you Borage." Nasturtium scoffed, "You're going to have to be quiet for once."

"I can be quiet!" Borage said loudly, "You know I can be quiet, Nasturtium!"

"You can afford to be more quiet." Nasturtium muttered.

"Get along you two." Hyacinth called, too tired to put any more effort into her admonishment.

"Now let's hear what happened in the past five days." Zinnia said, "I've been too busy to do much than peek outside the window."

"Right so..." Hyacinth sighed, "Do you remember how Laurestine showed up here out of nowhere?"

"Yeah."

"That...never stopped. I mean it did for a bit after Laurestine left but..."

"Not long after Laurestine returned to the frontlines, more and more elven soldiers kept showing up." Scabius continued, "It was a bit of a known secret with the soldiers being kept in the cradle's housing and some of the caretakers being reassigned to tend to them. The problem was that more and more kept showing up and weren't getting sent back out. They couldn't without order from the king."

"Or rather, they couldn't even leave the cradle when more elves started developing dark skins." Hyacinth frowned.

"Lycoris seems fine." Zinnia turned to the elf child who had still retained her pale white skin, "So I assume it's not an illness?"

"Doesn't seem like it." Scabius growled, "In fact, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why certain elves get turned like this."

"None that we can figure out anyway." Nasturtium shrugged, "Hopefully we'll find something in the core."

"The king hasn't made any statement since he appeared in front of Laurestine's men." Scabius' voice grew more frustrated, "What is he doing? What is he thinking? Why has he just disappeared all of a sudden? If he doesn't intend on addressing all this then is he really-"

"Reckless assumptions won't get us anywhere, Scabius." Hyacinth said, "If we need the truth, we'll find it, not create it."

Roko turned to look at Roland. Roland gave him a weird look that said he didn't know what Roko's accusation was about before scowling as he turned his attention back to the memory.

"From there things just kept getting worse." Borage picked up the story, "More and more people started to turn and the more we isolated them, the more the perception against them began to turn into something unpleasant."

"Uhhhhh…" Nasturtium raised her head, "You okay, Borage?"

"Hm? Just fine, thanks."

"Don't worry, that's just a line from his report." Lycoris explained.

"You're still doing that?!"

"I mean, the king said to do it." Borage replied.

"The king might also be behind all this you know! And you three! If you're going to write the report for him, at least make it sound like something he'd write!"

"But it's just too funny to do otherwise." Scabius smirked.

"I swear, it's a miracle we get anything done with the amount of brain cells you all share."

"Does that include me?" Lycoris asked.

"Yes!"

"Why?!" The child yelped.

"So anyway." Hyacinth cleared her throat as she turned back to Zinnia, "As you've probably seen, the addition of soldiers to the mix made things a lot more complicated. It was calm for a bit until the afflicted ones started running into problems feeding everyone. The resources here at the Tree Cradle aren't scarce, we should be able to feed everyone for a few days at least. But we weren't allowed to access all of it with our restricted space."

"The black elves don't have any farms or any way to create food on their own either." Scabius sighed, "The normal elves have farms and stuff but the black ones don't have anything."

"Why don't you start a farm then?"

"If we made the black elves too self reliant, the perception against them will turn even more alien. That said, we eventually didn't have much of a choice so we tried starting one but...well..."

"There were some sabotage attempts from the normal elves." Hyacinth bit her lip, "Everything from disturbing the crops to even thievery. We tried to come down hard on those people and we managed to get most of the activity to stop but when they started limiting our space we had little room to farm. So our small field wasn't even allowed to develop any further."

"And then came the lies." Scabius continued, "Some of the elves started justifying their actions by saying that the king allowed such behavior to be done. A wholly unsubstantiated claim."

"Still..." Nasturtium frowned, "It can't be completely baseless if its persisted despite us, his personal knights, saying that's not the case."

"Are you saying the king somehow said something like that?!"

"No but someone with high enough authority might've given it credibility."

"Are you saying one of us did it?" Scabius scowled.

"Maybe but no. A soldier high enough on the hierarchy could've done the trick."

"That could be anyone then." Hyacinth sighed.

"It's either that or the king made a secret declaration that we've never heard of."

The room grew grimly silent at the prospect. The king's silence has been killing the group's morale and now they have to contend with betrayal. The thought was too distressing for their tired minds to bear.

"By the way..." Lycoris spoke up, "The king has been spending all his time in the core room right? How are we going to sneak in to investigate?"

"I suspect eyes will be light once the king makes his speech." Zinnia replied.

"What speech?" Nasturtium raised her head confusedly.

"The speech he said he was going to do to address the growing situation."

Everyone just stared at Zinnia blankly.

"The speech he said he was going to make once he was finished with business in the core?"

…

"Did he not tell you guys?"

"Wait, you're telling me the king told you personally?" Scabius frowned.

"Yeah."

"Wait, you got found out?!" Hyacinth cried.

"I can only be so stealthy while hacking into the most guarded grounds of elven civilization."

"Wait it took us this long to find you and the king just shows up in front you?!"

"I mean, it's the king."

"I...guess that's fair?" Hyacinth said with a hint of doubt.

"Wait, what did you do when you got found out?" Scabius asked.

"I kept hacking."

"WHAT DO YOU MEA-RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM?!" Hyacinth shouted.

"What did you want me to do?"

"Ask him some questions maybe?!"

"If he was ready to provide answers, he wouldn't be giving them to just me. Besides, we're doing this to get answers for ourselves."

"Zinnia, please." Hyacinth held her face in her hands, "I can only take so much…"

"I don't see the issue."

"Zinnia." Nasturtium spoke up, "...When's this speech?"

"In a few minutes."

Another stunned silence befell the room.

"I was going to suggest we conclude early to attend."

…

"What?"

Running all the way from the warehouse district to the central cradle was an exhausting feat. Even their longest marches came with some breaks. This time they had to sprint full speed with Borage carrying the young Lycoris on his shoulder. In end, the royal guards became the last ones to arrive to the speech, gasping for air and nearly collapsing on the floor in exhaustion. Especially Nasturtium. Not as especially for Borage...and Lycoris. A large crowd had formed in front of a sizable stage with every normal elf standing in front of it murmuring curiously. Notably, not a single dark elf could be found.

"Oh good." Hyacinth heaved breath after breath, "We're still early."

"Was running necessary?" Zinnia huffed.

"A little exercise never hurt anybody!" Borage said as he placed Lycoris on the ground.

"Tell that to Nasturtium."

Everyone turned to look at the blind elven mage who has collapsed onto her back and was gasping for air like a fish out of water with asthma. Her chest was heaving so violently that it seemed like something was trying to escape from within her body. It honestly seemed more like she was dying instead of recovering.

"Should we do something?" Hyacinth asked.

"What can we do?" Scabius scoffed.

"Lady Nasturtium?" Lycoris walked over to the struggling elf, "I have some water if that'll help."

Nasturtium's arm shot out and grabbed the bottle out of Lycoris' hands, downing the liquid in seconds before going back to dying on the ground.

"I hope she'll be alright." Lycoris said.

"She'll be fine." Hyacinth smiled, "Nasturtium's surprisingly sturdy."

"Look! It's the king!"

The stirring of the crowd drew everyone's attention as the elven king stepped onto the stage and stood in front of his people with his ever benevolent ineffability.

"My people." The king's voice echoed throughout the cradle with enhancement magic, "There has been many events in the past days that may have been confusing for you. I want to assure you I have been aware of them and after closely monitoring the cradle's condition, I am here today to inform you of the results of my investigation."

A wave of murmured relief washed over the elves but the royal guards could only feel a sense of foreboding.

"First, to address the soldiers with us today. I'm sure the answer of why you've reappeared here has been divulged to you and I apologize if my discretion has caused any number of troubles for you. I did not intend for things to go so out of hands so I must ask you to forgive me as I finished tidying things up. Now to what I'm sure you all are wondering about; the appearance of this strange...condition...that's been plaguing the people. The strange darkening in the skin of certain elves. This is not some sort of disease so you need not worry of contracting it."

That news alone brought another wave of relief from the crowd.

"As for what that these individuals are truly suffering from...there is no need to worry. These people have been...chosen in a way."

A surge of fear and worry rippled through the crowd but the king quickly held up his hand to cut the speculation short as he continued,

"Not for any sort of grand plan I'm afraid. You see with the changes made to the cradle's core, we no longer have to fear an early death. The Interminable War has taken its toll on our race. Left scars on the world and especially the elven race. Do you not feel it odd that we elves live and die so different from all other races? Countless generations ago, our lives have been changed by our ancestors over and over again just so that not only us but the world may offer any sort of resistance! Their efforts has changed our lives and we cannot let the collective will of the elves falter at this stage. There is no longer a need to fear death. All men and woman will join the war effort. You need not worry if your talents may offer any sort of benefit to the war. Every able hand will be able to offer support. Those who've been marked with dark skin are those chosen to stay behind. For no war can be fought without support, the core has now been given the ability to mark out those best suited to serve those who serve the war. There is no need to worry about the health and condition of those chosen. All the elven race needs to worry about is winning the war."

The king lowered his head and stepped forward, the people's anticipation reaching a climax as the king proudly raised his head and his voice,

"The elves have fought for ages but it is time to finally time to put those ages of experience to our advantage! Without fear of starting over, we can leverage our abilities to terminate the Interminable War! We can fight for the whole of the world and when the world is safe, the elves will finally know peace!"

A cheer rose among the crowd as the king's speech rallied the hearts of the soldiers and the caretakers in support of the soldiers. There was a hint of confusion and unease from the non-combatants but it was clear the king's speech has the support of his people. The only ones not in cheer were the king's own royal knights. They looked on at the satisfied crowd and their lone king.

"Borage...pick up Nasturtium. We need to have another meeting." Hyacinth frowned.

Back in the warehouses allowed for the dark elves, Nasturtium finished her third cup of water and let out an appeased sigh.

"I'm good." Nasturtium said. And then coughed.

"Did you hear everything?" Hyacinth asked.

"I did."

"Over your own heaving?"

"What's that Scabius? I can't hear you over your bitching. It's really loud. Louder than the king even."

"Well at least we know you're fine now." Scabius scoffed, "So let's hear what you think of it, Nasturtium."

"Hmph. A lot of convenient answers but if what he says is true then he's literally changing the world, at least for elves. Sure it doesn't really address the days of chaos we had but now that we have an understanding we can rebuild relations in one that's better. I say it's a good start."

"Heeeeh? I figured you'd be more vindictive."

"Against the king? Are you kidding me?"

"Didn't know you liked the king that much."

"I try not to get in trouble with my employer, thanks." Nasturtium said, "What about you?"

"I don't know about the rest of you but I was expecting a lot more." Scabius crossed his arms, "The king said he knows about all the stuff going on but he didn't say a word to the...chosen people I guess we're calling them? No acknowledgment of their troubles or even their absence from the crowd. They deserve at least an apology I think."

"Didn't know you were compassionate like that, Scabius."

"Bite me, Nasturtium. Borage, big guy, what do you think?"

"I...don't know..." Borage frowned, "I think the elves deserve a word for how they treated the chosen ones but the king has done a lot for elvenkind. We're all going to live different lives from now on so what does that mean for how we should act now?"

"No matter what changes, what is good and bad behavior doesn't change." Hyacinth scowled, "The king's duty is to lead his people, something he's neglected to do."

"The king's been busy with other matters." Nasturtium shrugged, "And now he's offering us a new era. Shouldn't we let it play out a bit first before we make reckless assumptions?"

"Since when did we stop asking questions?!" Hyacinth cried, "We don't know a thing about this new condition, including how exactly the ones who are changed get chosen! Don't we deserve the right to determine for ourselves which side we want?"

"Wants get taken away in times of war." Nasturtium replied, "We've never been in control of our own destinies."

"No matter effect what the war has on us, that doesn't excuse the king from doing the same to us either." Hyacinth countered stubbornly, "We need to know more. We deserve to know more. And if the king isn't willing to give it to us now in this pivotal time, we need to find out ourselves."

Nasturtium didn't say anything, clearly not quite convinced of Hyacinth's stance but showing no signs of defiance to her proposal. With a silent approval from everyone else, the elves all turned to Zinnia who had been standing there silently.

"We're counting on you Zinnia. Get us into that core room."