Chapter 278: What Cannot Be Said
Iron sat on the sofa in the left wing of the Main Building. He lightly patted his chest with his palm, steadying his ragged breathing.
Liana is ruled out, he said mentally, analyzing what had just happened. She's the only one I could say it to... Why can't I tell anyone that I'm from another world... except for Liana?
He leaned back slightly, remembering how he had tried to tell Noah. Back then, the words wouldn't leave his mouth, getting stuck somewhere in his throat, no matter how hard he tried to force them out.
Maybe it's actually true... Iron thought, but immediately shook his head, contradicting himself: No, their personalities don't match.
However, his thoughts kept spinning, giving him no peace:
But it could just be a mask, after all. There still have to be micro-moments when that mask slips. Just like with me.
Iron fell silent. In the total silence of the office, he sat there for several minutes, staring blankly straight ahead and running every detail through his head.
After that, he collapsed the space and materialized not far from the campfires.
Evening had already settled over the village, slowly giving way to night. The residents sat by the fire, helping cook the food and quietly chatting about something.
Iron stepped forward slightly and spotted Liana. Walking up to her, he asked:
"Liana, what is your real name?"
She was slightly surprised by the question, but answered calmly:
"Well, my real name is Liana."
"Alright. But is there something you're here for besides work?"
"Well... if you don't count the work itself, then I guess yes, there is," Liana replied.
"I'm talking about the kind of goals you don't want anyone to know about," Iron clarified.
Liana thought for a moment, then shook her head:
"No, there aren't any."
"Fine, I'll be blunt. Do you know anything about anoth..."
In that very second, his voice instantly vanished. Instead of words, only a dry, barely audible wheeze came out.
Liana tilted her head slightly and looked at him in bewilderment:
"Anoth...?"
Iron pressed his fingers to his throat and tried again:
"Well, I mean anoth..."
His voice broke again.
Liana sighed and shook her head:
"Hmm, I think you're severely overworked. You do work more than all of us combined, after all. So please, take a little break."
Iron lowered his hand and exhaled:
"Yeah, maybe you're right."
He turned around and stepped aside, naturally having no intention of resting whatsoever.
I'm completely confused now, Iron said mentally.
He placed his palm against his chest again. Judging by how caring she is—it's Eliza. By approximate appearance—Nastya. By... this 'feeling'—Liana...
Iron briefly pondered everything that had happened, after which he said mentally:
And what even is this feeling...? I should try to calibrate it.
Iron looked up. The men were walking up to the fire, helping the girls turn the carcasses and butcher the meat, speaking to each other in low voices about something.
Walking up to a long fallen log, Iron sat on it and quietly thought:
Aren't they sick of eating meat every day?
He didn't linger on this thought. Iron closed his eyes and shifted his attention to preparing for tomorrow.
At the very first signal, Lumon pulled up a detailed map of the Kront Kingdom before his mind's eye. It was a full-fledged 3D model with the terrain relief, wall heights, and building architecture. Iron began to work out a route, searching for weak points and coming up with hundreds of possible scenarios. At the same time, he constantly cross-referenced the old blueprints and plan sketches he had been compiling for the last three months, expanding and correcting them on the fly.
Most likely, I need a mask. And Noah too, he reasoned. Or maybe just create a distortion.
He mentally adjusted the distortion parameters—a visual blur that would prevent onlookers from making out and remembering their facial features.
Then the projection scaled out, showing three castles at once: Kront was located in the center, Eridan on the right, and Avers on the left. On the surface of each dome, Lumon highlighted the frequencies of the defensive field that blocked direct teleportation inside.
Iron recalled his past experience in Avers. Back then, he had disabled the shield for about a minute, but even that brief glitch was enough for the atmosphere in the city to turn dead serious instantly; patrols of knights began swarming the streets, and priests started tracking every step.
This time, I'll shut them down completely, he concluded to himself.
Having calculated the reactions to every possible turn of events and having laid out solutions for any unforeseen contingency, Iron ordered Lumon to collapse the projection.
The entire image instantly blinked out. Iron smoothly, slowly opened his eyes and focused his gaze on the campfire burning slightly off to the side.
Just beside him, sitting on the same log, were Noah, Marek, Clerk, and a few other residents.
Eliza, noticing that Iron had snapped out of his thoughts, immediately walked toward the fire. At the same time, Elyria flew up to him.
"You finally opened your eyes, Iron!" the spirit said. "I thought you died!"
Iron looked at her with a tired gaze.
"You didn't respond to any sounds at all!" Elyria continued. "I mean, I'm not saying it's a bad thing... I just had so many plans on how to prank you, but Eliza wouldn't let me. Scold her, scold her! Why does she keep getting in my way?"
"Alright," Iron replied dryly.
At that moment, Eliza returned and handed Iron a plate of freshly roasted meat. Everyone started their dinner.
Chewing for a bit, Iron looked at the people sitting nearby and said:
"You guys are probably sick of eating meat, right? It makes no difference to me, but..."
"No, not at all!" Elyria interrupted him immediately. "Meat restores a lot of energy. If I had my way, I'd eat it every second!"
And she popped another piece straight into her mouth.
"I'm not sick of it," Clerk shrugged. "The meat is really good."
Iron shifted his gaze to Eliza. She merely shook her head from side to side, letting him know that she was fine with it too. Marek and the others silently repeated her gesture.
But eating nothing but meat is unhealthy, Iron thought to himself. And immediately added: Yeah right, look who's talking.
They continued their dinner peacefully, talking in low voices about something. Not far away, quiet voices could be heard by the neighboring campfires as well: Helda, Sylphy, and other residents were chatting.
Gradually, the evening drew to a close. Everyone finished their portions, cleaned up their dishes and the leftover food, got up from their spots, and began saying their goodbyes, heading off to their homes.
Iron stood up and headed toward the Main Building. Elyria immediately tagged along, circling in the air above his shoulder.
"Listen, so when are we eventually going to see Edriac, Olgerd, and that... what's his name... Valdes!"
"Tomorrow," Iron replied.
"Wow, tomorrow already? Seriously?"
"Well, you're not coming with us," Iron cut her off.
At that moment, he noticed Marek calmly walking to his house made of stone and timber, and tracked him with his eyes.
Elyria instantly froze in the air, then darted forward, positioning herself right in front of Iron's face and waving her arms animatedly:
"What? Why wouldn't I go with you? Why?"
"You need to get back in shape," Iron answered without slowing his stride. "You said yourself that this isn't your true form. Show me your true one first, and then we'll go on these so-called 'missions' together."
"Well yeah, I'm out of form, but I'm strong! I'm really strong!"
"Yes, you're strong. But unlike Noah, you have experience in actual combat against humans, so..."
"Well, he got a lot of experience in the war!" Elyria interrupted. "He has even more!"
"Yeah, you're comparing a couple of times to tens of thousands. And that's assuming the number stops there... Any idiot can tell that your experience is colossal."
Elyria puffed out her cheeks in frustration:
"Well yeah, that's true... But at least take me along with Noah!"
"And who's going to protect the village?"
"Well... I'll think of something!" she muttered.
Iron exhaled heavily:
"Even if you do think of something, it's not a given that you're coming with us."
Elyria pouted even harder. Following Iron's gaze, she saw Marek walking into his house.
"Their names are similar, you know," the spirit said.
"Yeah," Iron replied, continuing to walk. "But their experience is different."
Elyria suddenly realized she had strayed from the topic, and hurriedly added:
"So what about it?"
By this time, Iron had already stepped inside the Main Building. Realizing her words weren't going to help, Elyria pouted angrily and instantly vanished.
Iron walked through the hall, opened the door to his office, went inside, walked a little further, and sat in his chair.
He pulled the "Copier" toward himself and plunged back into his calculations, trying to finally solve the problem with the crucible.
Maybe I should just replace it? Iron reasoned mentally, examining the part. Technically, I could, but then I'll never find out why the problem occurred specifically with the crucible.
A couple of minutes later, the office door opened. Eliza stood on the threshold. Iron, without taking his eyes off the "Copier", said dryly:
"What do you need?"
Eliza walked closer and stood right across from him:
"Why can't you just take Elyria with you?"
"I could spend an hour explaining why I didn't take her, do you want me to?" Iron asked, still not looking up from the "Copier".
"Keep it brief."
Iron exhaled, after which he said calmly:
"Your safety. That's why I can't take Elyria with us."
"Well, what about magic?" Eliza shrugged. "Can't you just create some magic that will protect us?"
"I could, but it would drain a lot of energy that I shouldn't be wasting. And besides, unpredictable situations still happen. I don't want a repeat of that situation."
"Which one?"
"Losing my village."
"But the reason for that wasn't the same as with Elyria," Eliza countered.
"The concept itself is similar, if you really picture it."
"No, it's not fucking similar at all," she cut him off.
Iron set the "Copier" aside and looked Eliza right in the eyes:
"I thought I already said 'no'. What's the problem?"
Eliza leaned slightly against the desk:
"I don't get it. Honestly, I don't understand people like this. What's so hard about just taking her with you? You guys are going to be there for more than a day anyway."
Iron rested his elbow on the desk and propped his head on his hand. His tone instantly turned cold, and his fingers slowly began to twirl his pencil:
"I have no intention of losing a project like this. This is already the fourth attempt. If this one fails too..." he shook his head, "then I can't even imagine what will happen next."
Eliza exhaled heavily and sat down on the sofa behind her:
"Alright. Let me help you... Help you figure this out. Who knows, maybe we'll spend less energy than you expected."
"That's impossi..." Iron started.
"No, it is possible," she immediately interrupted him.
Iron exhaled wearily and fell silent. He sank into deep thought, running through the options in his head again and calculating the risks.
"Stop thinking already!" Eliza snapped, unable to hold back. "There are no double meanings in my words, no hidden messages, and no riddles. Why are you taking so long to think? Do you take this long to think in combat too?"
"If I speak without thinking, I might regret it in the future," Iron answered in a calm voice.
"I'm not telling you to answer me without thinking," Eliza said. "Just answer simply. You don't need to calculate everything in every single word like there's some hidden meaning buried in it."
Iron froze for a few seconds, staring at the tabletop, and said mentally:
Damn it.
Then he immediately exhaled and said aloud:
"Alright, go ahead."
"Excellent," Eliza immediately got up from the sofa and headed for his desk.
Iron followed her with his eyes and quietly thought to himself:
Maybe it really is for the best...