Following Papaya, Lococo also decided to let her parents leave with the Krakok clan. However, she was not doing very well compared to Papaya. Lococo managed to agree to the decision somewhat unwillingly after her parents persuaded her.
“We will be a giant burden on her if we stay here. We’ll travel with the rest. That’s not a problem,” said Lococo’s mother.
Lococo’s father nodded along. While living together, the Moonlily Fairy had told the Krakoks how dangerous this world was. Lococo’s parents would leave just to grant their daughter more freedom, even if this wasn’t Lococo’s wish.
Angor saw Lococo still sobbing and shook his head. This one was still like a babyish child, which... should be the case, considering Lococo’s age. Someone like this definitely could not bear with the great responsibility of liberating their people.
Next, the three Krakoks asked to spend the rest of the day so that they could enjoy homecoming since they probably wouldn’t have any in a long time.
Angor allowed them without a second thought.
He then went away and snapped a branch of the Milkberry Tree and put it inside a flowerpot. He planned to see if he could transplant the amazing tree to Padt Manor so that Jon and the others could enjoy the magical sap produced by it.
With this settled, he found Toby in the flower house and headed to Greya’s hut.
Greya prepared a pretty luxurious meal, probably because of Toby. While eating, Angor soon lost himself in the divine nourishment, and he hoped that he had an extra hand to help him fetch dishes faster.
“Gods... I wish I can cook too!” Angor couldn’t help but exclaim between his bites. He always wanted to try out some of the recipes recorded in the hologram tablet. “Maybe I can find some time and practice later.”
Toby heard his mumbles and almost puffed up his feathers. “Tweet, tweeeet!” —No, please no!
Greya chuckled while listening to their “conversation”. She still remembered when Angor showed her a piece of Mana Bread, which tasted like socks. Cooked socks.
It was very expected that Toby felt so anxious when Angor wanted to cook food again. They spent quite some time surviving on Angor’s Mana Bread, and Toby definitely wouldn’t want to go through that again.
“Chill out. I mean literally cooking, not making magic food like those Mana Bread.” Angor put a finger on Toby’s head. “You know cooking? It’s all about managing the fire, your frying pan, and done! Easy peasy.”
Toby was still shaking his head madly as if he only expected disaster coming out of Angor’s hands.
Greya smiled and shook her head. She then took out a white ball-like substance from her storage, cut it in half, and handed them to Angor and Toby.
“This is called ‘Moocher Meat’. You can eat it if you don’t have any other edible food,” said Greya.
Curious, Angor poked at the soft texture with a finger. It felt greasy and creamy, like animal fat. However, it was resilient like silicone gel too. When he retracted his hand, the item reverted to being a smooth ball.
“We can eat this?” Angor tried sniffing it and only sensed a very faint sweetness.
“Yeah. A ‘Moocher’ is a strange life form that looks like a mixture of an animal and a plant. It grows violently upon receiving energy, and there is no limit to how large it can get. You can cut it up or grind it to powder, and the remains would still grow as long as there is enough energy.”
When Greya tossed a small stream of mana at the Moocher Meat in Angor’s hand, the meat instantly gained some size under Angor’s shocked gaze.
“Oops, I guess I just proved it. You can try eating some of it now so that it won’t take too much space. As long as you don’t swallow all of it in one go, you can use your mana to make it bigger.”
Following Greya’s advice, both Angor and Toby took a small bite.
The meat tasted rather good. It was like something soft mixed with mashed vegetables and chicken, and it was a bit sugary as well. Angor then tried putting a slice of it inside Greya’s tomato soup, and it went well!
“Nice!” Angor’s eyes gleamed. “This is like unlimited food!”
“As long as you don’t exhaust your mana first. But it’s not exactly unlimited. A Moocher has a lifespan, so is its meat. About... two hundred years or so. When approaching there, the meat will get more dried-up until it becomes useless. Personally, I like ‘middle-aged’ Moocher Meat. The one I gave you is about fifteen years old, so it tastes softer.”
“So cutting it won’t affect its ‘lifespan’, right?” asked Angor.
“That’s right.”
“Even if there’s a ‘shelf life’ for it, it’s still a brilliant type of food!” Angor frowned. “How come I have never heard of such a thing before?”
“Oh, a Moocher is native at the bottom of a sea trench at the Oblation Plane, and I’m probably the only Gourmet who went there before, so...”
“So... wizards don’t know this thing exists at all?”
“Correct. This is only a common material if you don’t consider its wild growth. It doesn’t have special properties, and it doesn’t even give you many nutrients. Try not to live off it if you have better things to eat.” Greya shrugged. “It’s basically useless to wizards or apprentices who know how to cook proper Mana Bread.”
“Yeah... but if I can craft an item that automatically collects energy from the environment, then this thing can sustain a lot of mortal refugees,” Angor mumbled. “Can I share it with the others, Lady Greya?”
“Well, I meant to give it to you. You’re free to do whatever you want with it.”
Angor gladly thanked her.
The Moocher Meat was probably pointless to him as well, but he might leave it to his family so that they wouldn’t starve should there be any war or natural disasters.
Toby hopped onto Angor’s shoulder and whispered something.
If I can eat this, I will NOT try any of your courses. Never!
“Oh, come on! It’s not like I’d beg you to eat my stuff or something,” Angor protested.
The meal ended, and Angor felt extremely refreshed from head to toe. As always, Greya’s meal contained something magical that eliminated all stress and uneasiness from his body.
Greya cleaned up all the tableware and sat down again. “You chose the right time to leave the Fey Continent. There are evil plots in the making, all around the place. However... Marginalized Island won’t be completely safe either. Remember to stay cautious at all times and avoid getting dragged into the boring competitions among wizards.”
Greya said that with a really serious expression, which made Angor confused.
“Er, is something going to happen to the Old Earth? Can you tell me something, Lady Greya?”
“I don’t know anything. And that is the biggest problem.”
“I... excuse me?”
“Before Sunders left, he asked me to help you look into the situation around the Old Earth. I thought it was an easy task since, you know, there are no supernatural individuals over there, which means nothing serious can happen. Yet... when I started digging for information, I saw something weird.” Greya frowned. “Even though it is called ‘Marginalized’, wizards still left their sources of info there. However, these sources were all cut off four years ago. No one has heard anything from that place ever since.”
“Old Earth is in trouble?” Angor suddenly grew worried. Surely a single wizard was enough to wipe out an entire country if they wished so.
“You don’t have to get too concerned. As far as I know, ships that are traveling past the Old Earth are all going according to their routes, and cargo ships were still leaving Vichy Harbor several months ago. I don’t think anything happened to your mortal family. It is rare for wizards to specifically attack mortals.”
Angor felt a bit relieved upon hearing this. Vichy Harbor was an important trading port in the Goldspink Empire. If the harbor was safe, so was the empire.
“Four years ago...” Angor considered. “Is it a coincidence? I left the Old Earth around that time.”
“Maybe a wizard did go there and mess up all the informants, but why would a wizard go to the middle of nowhere?”
Angor suddenly remembered a man with distinctive red hair.
“Thewis... Is it Mister Thewis?”
Greya tilted her head. “Right... I heard Thewis went there several years ago, and nobody has heard from him since. I think he went to capture Eureka, who stole the Crimson Crown. He still hasn’t found Eureka after all this time?”
Crimson Crown? Angor felt something clicking in his mind.
Crimson Crown was a national treasure of the Goman Kingdom. It was said that the Goman King paid Thewis to go after the thief.
But Angor was thinking about another name right now—”Crimson Mask” Irisa.
He saw it from somewhere before that Irisa was Thewis’ sister. So why would Thewis’ sister show up at Floating Mech City and ask him to make a “fake” Crimson Crown?
Something was not right. Definitely.
Could it be that they wanted to have the crown to themselves and return the fake one to the Goman King?
Angor shivered a little at that thought. Sunders warned him that he should not get involved in this matter as it was supposed to be the court war of the Goman Kingdom.
Greya was still pondering over the situation. “It makes sense. Thewis didn’t catch Eureka, so he destroyed information channels to prevent her from contacting the Fey Continent. This is not your concern though. Just remember not to bother Thewis in any way. That man is very famous for his ill-temper.
“As long as you stay out of his sight, he won’t have a reason to harm you. Of course, I don’t think you’ll run into him at all.”