The old couple at The Respite greeted them back with their usual quiet smile as the trio returned. The aroma of a simple vegetable stew was already wafting from the back kitchen.
"Welcome back, dearies," the old woman said, her smile kind. "Lunch is almost ready. You all look like you could use a warm meal."
"Yeah, we are famished from all the waiting."
They gathered around the small, scarred table in the inn’s common room, the old couple joining them. The stew, though simple, was hearty and comforting after the morning’s tension.
As they were finishing up, Lila wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and looked at Riku, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. "So, Riku? About that surprise you mentioned?"
Riku chuckled. "Impatient, are we?" He winked. "Alright, alright." He closed his eyes for a moment and issued a familiar mental command.
System, remember that chocolate unlock? Let’s have five pieces of that. Deduct the points.
[ Chocolate x5. Cost: 2 Goodwill Points per piece. Total: 10 Goodwill Points.]
[Goodwill Points: 1024 - 10 = 1014 Remaining.]
[Chocolate manifested. Please check your satchel.
Riku reached into his satchel and, with a flourish, pulled out five dark, smooth, rectangular pieces, each about the size of his palm. He placed them on a clean wooden platter that was already placed on the table.
"Go on," Riku urged with a smile. "Try it. It’s called chocolate. It is a specialty from my hometown."
"What... is that, Riku?" the old innkeeper asked, peering at it curiously. "Looks a bit like... well-polished mud, if you ask me."
His wife nodded. "Or perhaps a very dark type of compressed earth? But is it edible?"
Lila, however, was intrigued. "It smells... interesting. Sweet, but not like honey or fruit." She reached out a finger and poked one of the pieces. It yielded slightly. "It’s soft!"
Lila, never one to shy away from a new experience, picked up a piece and took a small, tentative bite.
Her eyes widened almost instantly. The initial confusion on her face melted away, replaced by an expression of pure, unadulterated bliss.
A soft "Mmmmph!" escaped her lips as the chocolate began to melt on her tongue. Without a word, she quickly took another, much larger bite, her eyes closing in delight.
"Lila? Is it... good?" Elara asked, watching her friend’s dramatic reaction.
Lila could only nod enthusiastically, her mouth full, a smudge of brown now at the corner of her lips. She finally managed to swallow. "Good? Elara, this is... this is heaven! It’s sweet, but also a little bitter, and it just... melts! Riku, what is this magic?"
Seeing Lila’s reaction, the old couple and Elara grew curious. The old woman was the next to try, taking a delicate nibble. Her weary face slowly lit up with a surprised smile. "Oh, my. Oh, my dear. This is... quite unlike anything I’ve ever tasted."
The old man followed, and soon even Elara, encouraged by Lila, took a small bite. Her initial apprehension vanished, replaced by a look of quiet wonder.
For the next few minutes, the only sounds in the common room were soft murmurs of appreciation and the occasional happy sigh as the five of them shared the unexpected, luxurious treat. The tension from the church, the worries about the Creep, all seemed to fade away, replaced by the simple, shared joy of a new and wonderful flavor.
"Haha, never thought that after experiencing so many things in life, there would be something that would surprise us so much. That choco.. mud, lad, was extremely delicious."
The old lady spoke to Riku fondly, her husband nodding his head in agreement at her side.
"I am glad you liked it, uncle. I will definitely leave more of it for you so you can have it I future." Riku smiled.
"Ah, no need, no need. I am sure that thing would be expensive. We don’t need more than that. Just once is enough."
Riku shook his head, not bothering to explain more. He would just leave the old couple a lot of pieces of chocolate later.
"Thank you for the meal. It was very delicious as well. "
Soon, the old couple retired for their afternoon nap. Riku, however, could not rest.
He pulled out the small vial of Sunpetal Draught. "Alright," he said to Lila, who was watching him intently, a lingering chocolatey smile on her face. "Let’s see what this ’miracle cure’ actually is."
From his satchel, he carefully retrieved a small, dark stone fragment he’d chipped off in the Whisperwood – the one that pulsed with the faint, sickly crimson luminescence of the Creep. He placed it on the small, rickety table.
"You still have that?" Lila asked, eyeing the stone with a mixture of a sense of fear.
"I kept it with me to test it later," Riku replied. He uncorked the Sunpetal Draught. The liquid within was a pale golden color, with a faint, sweet herbal scent. Carefully, he let a single drop fall onto the crimson-veined stone and started observing.
Initially, the liquid covered the entirety of the small stone fragment and the red mist. A minute passed, and then another, and then a third.
However, nothing happened.
The drop of liquid simply sat on the stone’s surface, glistening. There was no sizzle, no change in the stone’s luminescence, no reaction at all.
"Hmm," Riku murmured. "No direct interaction. If the stone is a concentrated form of the Creep, or a vessel for it, this draught doesn’t seem to affect its nature directly. Maybe something is happening on the smaller level?"
He tried focusing his own mana sense on the interaction, but he saw that the Sunpetal Draught and the Creep were like oil and water – the magical properties of the draught and the strange, inert nature of the Creep on the stone didn’t interact at all. Dejected, he told Lila and Elara of his findings.
"So, it doesn’t ’fight’ the Creep?" Lila asked.
"Doesn’t look like it," Riku said, letting out a dejected sigh.
It seemed like even this path was a dead end.