With no actual doctor to assist with Corissa's recovery, Roko set the vague goal of Corissa being able to do a single ab crunch before resuming their underwater activities. Vespa could tend wounds but with the remaining medical supplies, he could do little but simply redress the wound. Despite that, Corissa seemed to be recovering well. It was Corissa herself that was the problem though.
"Roko...give me something to do..." Corissa moaned from her bed.
"No."
"I can walk just fine now! I can cook for tonight!"
"No. Read your book."
"But I feel like I need to do something!"
"Why?" Roko scowled, looking up from the defused bomb he was studying.
"Why indeed?" Corissa looked away innocently, leaving Roko to make the obvious conclusion.
"Even I know to rest when I need it. Don't pretend to blame this on me."
"But you're such a good role model."
"If you're going to be sarcastic the whole time, I can just leave."
"No please don't!" Corissa yelped, "I uhh...b-but...but if you know overwork is bad, then why do you do it to yourself? And only yourself? Is it because we're too important to sacrifice again?"
"Partially." Roko replied, returning to studying the bomb, "I'm surprised you still remember what we talked about back in the revamped camp."
"How could I not?" Corissa humped, "You said you were not as important as us."
"And was I wrong? If I remember correctly, you didn't refute this statement."
"Well I really wanted to."
"But you didn't."
"Well it's not because I thought it was true!" Corissa yelped.
"It was true enough that you didn't refute though."
"Well maybe I should have!"
"Then you'd have to explain how you, a princess and most beautiful girl in the world, is only as important as this man who appeared out of nowhere with no ties to any one, thing or place."
"Don't start calling me by that title too." Corissa hugged her head, a tad bashful, "I hate it."
"Like it or not, it's still a reason why you can't do the things I do."
"Can't I now?"
"Can't as in 'should not' rather than 'not able'."
"Of course." Corissa said, displeasure dripping from her voice, "But if we can fight, why can't we overwork a little?"
"Because just like how we fight for a good reason, you need to overwork for a good reason."
"And my reasons aren't good enough?"
"You don't need to overwork yourself when someone else is doing it."
"And how are we supposed to overwork when you keep overworking yourself first?!"
"You say that like overwork is a good thing."
"Well it must be if you keep doing it."
"Haha." Roko said dryly, "Is that the only reason you want to overwork yourself? Because I do it?"
"Well I'm not a monkey copying whatever I see." Corissa pouted, "But yes! Seeing you overwork yourself makes me want to work to keep you from overworking too badly!"
"First of all, do you even know the first step to helping me with my problems?"
Roko held out the bomb to Corissa who kind of balked at the prospect, "N-No...but I know what I can do which is cook!"
"It's not like I'm stopping you from cooking ever again. Just until you feel better."
"And I'm feeling better!"
"Not well enough to overwork yourself again. Don't underestimate how much stress affects your recovery."
"You'd still do it anyway." Corissa humphed.
"Because I do less work than all of you."
"WHAT?" Corissa turned her head, baffled by this new statement from Roko.
"You have the resources and influence to build a city with a wave of your hands." Roko continued, not even fazed by his own statement, "In comparison, I have to put in more effort to avoid abusing your authority."
"This is all OUR fault?!" Corissa cried incredulously.
"Not exactly." Roko replied, "Like I said, we have an undeniable difference in our positions including a public relations matter to consider. I have nothing to lose to the public but any big move from any of your countries would cause undue attention on you and us. Anybody looking to usurp any of your families could easily start a slanderous campaign against you. Even if your family may be willing to brave that storm, not everybody's family would be as accommodating. Helena may be willing to stick around until the end times, she is still the crown princess that her mother married specifically to set her up for. I don't know what magic Helena's been pulling to stay around for so long but if anything comes back to them, Helena could get pulled away. Momo's similarly the crown princess but her family holds so much power that I don't think any outside force would try to invade them. But there's always the risk of internal court strife, if not now then later. Calling in Momo's army alone would let us take Mulapin in less than a week but the consequences would be laid across Momo, her family and her relationships with us. Still, a culturally combat oriented society like hers respects power and history more than most so Momo's probably the one most immune to our activities. Kaguya on the other hand is the MOST in danger of losing her position. I can't get into much detail but the royal procession in her country is VERY volatile so if she's not randomly getting challenged for her position then any wrong move traced back to her could threaten her entire livelihood. The safest way to avoid all of that is to not abuse their royal resources as much as possible. "
"What about Melia?" Corissa asked.
"I uhhh..." Roko blinked, "I don't actually know Melia's position with her family. If...I had to hazard a guess, her family might be feeling protective over her after her experience when I was in Aporia but that's just a guess. Regardless it's still ultimately safer to avoid using too much resources on her side."
"Mhmm..."
"Anyway, you get it now right?" Roko sighed, "With all these princesses around, you'd think I'd have an easy time with anything but it's actually much more complicated than that. I may have entire lands available at the tips of my fingers but if moving them alerts the people living on them, then they might as well be wastelands. In the end, all of you can't use a vast majority of your capabilities and while you are all extremely capable without them, it runs counter to what you all have been taught at Memoria Auspice. You all learned how to act as leaders, with these immense powers you'll have to inherit but here with me, you can't act as freely. The only reason you're here is because of me and the only reason you aren't having international conflicts is because I refuse to let that happen. In exchange for all those limitations, what can I do but everything that I can do to accomplish what really only I need to accomplish?"
"...So because we can't act as freely as we normally can, you feel you need to make up for that by doing everything yourself?"
"I mean, it's not like you all ever really had to worry about things like extensive research by yourselves. You have experts for that."
"...Roko..." Corissa sighed, "It's not your fault!"
"Of course it's my fault." Roko frowned, "I'm the weakest link so I have to work harder to keep up with everyone."
"Keep up?! Roko, you've been doing everything on your own!" Corissa cried, "You haven't been keeping up, you've been shouldering everything! You yourself said this is just the consequences of our own positions so why does that mean you have to try even harder?!"
"Because if I was a smarter or stronger person, I'd be more able to wield your authorities!" Roko scowled, "Some grander design that can move can actually take advantage of your full abilities. Someone who's actually worth the opportunities I've been given."
"Roko, you yourself said that this rebellion has to be won by it's people for it to mean anything!"
"Wait, you weren't here when I said that." Roko frowned.
"Roko, it's fine if you don't ever fully realize our potentials." Corissa said, placing her hands on Roko's shoulders, "Don't worry about becoming someone worthy or something like that. We're here for who you are now, regardless of what you think you're missing. Who you are now got us to where we are today, how could that not be enough?"
"..."
"We don't want you to worry about us. If anything, we want you to take better care of yourself." Corissa said, taking Roko's hands into her own.
"I know what I can handle." Roko frowned, "It's you all that I have to worry about."
"We definitely appreciate your thoughtfulness. And I don't want to tell you to stop or try and alarm you but...I don't think you really understand how much danger you're in being with us. I mean, we have enemies everywhere. People from our own courts looking for any weakness. People from other countries looking to invade. Strangers who would kidnap us for leverage. All sorts of people."
"I'm well aware of those dangers." Roko replied, "Not like I can do a whole lot but I try to be alert about the possibilities."
"Hmmm..." Corissa said, thinking with a slyness in her eyes, "Then what about me?"
"What about you?"
"Yes." Corissa said, placing their hands down and drawing herself close to Roko, "As you've said, I am the most beautiful woman in the world. I attract a lot of unwanted attention. Any number of people could get deathly jealous of a guy like you. Being so friendly with me. Being so...close..."
Corissa drew her lips closer to Roko's. She closed her eyes. She didn't know what she was doing, why she was suddenly so bold but nothing in her mind was telling her to stop. She didn't know what would happen or even if she was ready for it but it was too late for her to even reconsider and there was oddly no fear or hesitation to stop her. Only when her lips came into contact with a slim, solid finger did Corissa open her eyes and look at a gently calm yet stern Roko putting up a single finger to block her.
"That's Varis' job."
And with that he stood up and left.
Despite everyone's concerns, Corissa recovered relatively quickly and without even a sign of a scar leftover. Though Corissa did her best to look as energetic as possible Roko could notice a twinge of pain whenever she moved a little bit too erratically though she hid it well. Still, she managed to pass Roko's soft test of one crunch up, even managing to hide her grimace right after it quite well. So Roko moved to resuming their Sealith operations. Something that everyone celebrated the night before with a delicious Corissa made meal. Early the next morning, the three of them were all ready to head back out.
"With the Starry Knights appearing here, we can't leave the base unprotected." Roko had explained, "As you still need to protect your collection, we'll be counting on you to take care of the base from any intruders while we're gone."
"Easy enough for me." Vespa nodded, "I just hope you'll be able to finish collecting all these Sealiths in time."
"From what I remember there should be 20 Enchanted Sealiths and we've acquired 11 of them. So there should only be nine left, though that is still a sizable number.
"Can you find them all in just one day?"
"If we hurry then probably." Roko sighed, "It all depends on what defenses Sirius has prepared."
"It's been a while since you arrived here. Sirius might've set up some real nasty things."
"I wouldn't count on it." Roko scoffed, "But we'll see. Ready, Corissa?"
"Yep! Sanctuary!"
The holy magic circle circled out around them and removed the water at their feet. With preparations complete, the three waved goodbye to Vespa and walked right into the ice wall, deleting a big hole in the wall before Varis sealed it back up once they were through.
Armed with a new set of lanterns from the supply room, Roko lead the way as always and Varis picked up the rear, though this time, the two were standing close to Corissa as they warily looked around for any sign of any drones, fish or mines. And it wasn't long after turning onto the main channel area that they were very quickly swarmed by a multitude of underwater drones flying, or swimming, around the group, watching with what felt like a sneering malicious stare. Roko and Varis quickly tried to cover Corissa from any attacks though none came quite yet.
"There's so many of them." Corissa squeaked, still a bit traumatized from their last experience, "What do we do?"
"...They certainly went all in on their one plan that worked." Roko scoffed, "I guess that proves one thing. Whoever's opposing us right now is an idiot."
"What do you mean?" Corissa asked.
"Varis. Do it."
Varis stepped back for a second to plunge his hand into the water outside the circle. And immediately a flashing bolt of lighting crackled through the water, dissipating everywhere in all directions and blasting every single drone in the area with a relentless current. Varis has done something like this before so clearly their opposition hadn't taken it into account. Even if they did, they perhaps thought the drones would be too far away for enough of the lightning to hit the drones too hard. Perhaps they would've been right. There was still an unprecedented amount of water that hindered the electric dispersion just as much as it helped. Unfortunately for them, after what they did, Varis was pissed. Electricity pumped through the waves at an alarming rate and intensity, though thanks to sanctuary, none of that ever came back to them in anyway. In short time, after several satisfying mini explosions, all the drones lost all their agency and either exploded into bits or began to get carried away by the current. Once the coast was clear, Varis stopped blasting the water and returned to Corissa's side.
"And that's it." Roko sighed, "That's our last, final desperate option. Crude but effective and also easy to counter, at least if they were given the time. And I've grown tired of this cat and mouse game. So if we can, we need to gather all the remaining Sealiths all at once."
"I-I think we can do it." Corissa tried to say confidently, "But uhh...do you?"
"Depends on how quickly we can move."
Of all things that Roko managed to keep with him, the map that Azimuth had provided to guide them to the dead ends of the sewer and the Sealith clawshot were the most valuable. The Sealith shurikens had been knocked out of Roko's hands when Corissa was pulled away and he was knocked off his feet by the water. Thankfully, there wasn't much mines left and whatever were left, Roko just detonated them from a safe distance with Varis' electricity. Something he didn't want to do at first because it would indiscriminately detonate a bunch of them at once and Roko didn't want such explosions so close to each other to cause a chain reaction and damage the sewer's foundations. Thankfully there weren't that many left and there didn't seem to be any new ones. Their defenses were rebuked and the way was clear. Now was not the time to hesitate. The three of them ran through the sewers, seeking out the furthest reaches of the sewer system for the remaining Sealiths. The only thing stopping them now was their incomplete information. They had figured every Sealith would be at the furthest ends of the sewer to make the flood seem more natural but that didn't tell them where the remaining Sealiths actually were. So they had to run to EVERY dead end, most of the time leaving with no results. Not entirely without results though. By the time they had to stop to eat some of the rations they had borrowed from Vespa, they had collected a total of four enchanted Sealiths. Almost halfway there and the water level had dropped to neck level because of their efforts. At this point, the water level near the exits had probably thinned out to more managable level at this point. That didn't mean that the cistern base was clear and especially not M83 as it was closer to the wall. And it was at this point that Roko began noticing something weird.
"Wait." Roko called for a stop as one of the drones floated past them after they were returning from a fruitless dead end. In its small mechanical claws was a glowing Sealith.
Panic surging through him, Roko pointed the Sealith clawshot at the drone only for another one to get in the way and fire a hook at Corissa. Thinking quickly, Roko reached out with his free hand and grabbed onto the wire, slicing several painful cuts into his hand but stopping it from reaching their most important asset. Wrapping the wire around his wrist, Roko pulled on the wire, pulling the drone away and smashing it into a wall as he reached out with the clawshot as far as possible and firing it, just barely able to catch the fleeing drone in time. Reeling it back in, the drone stopped operating as soon as it came into range of their sanctuary circle as well as disenchanting the Sealith it was holding. Breathing a sigh of relief, Roko collapsed on the ground as his adrenaline faded ans his sliced hand began to throb in pain. Thankfully they had also collected a bit of medical supplies from their base as well so Corissa was able to quickly wrap up his hand in gauze.
"They've started resisting." Roko winced as he looked down at the drone still caught in his claw.
"They're moving the Sealith." Corissa gulped, "Now they could be anywhere..."
"No time to think it over." Roko said, "We need to get to the rest of the Sealiths before they're moved. We can worry about tracking down the rest after we've cleared the remaining dead ends. They won't be hard to find."
"Are you sure?" Corissa gulped, "They could be anywhere."
"They could be anywhere with an abnormal amount of water." Roko corrected, "The more we clear the sewer, the more easily we'll be able to find the areas that are still flooded. But before that we need to clear the remaining unexplored areas before retracing the water's movements."
"Got it." Corissa nodded.
"I've got a bad feeling about this." Roko grimaced, "If this scramble was all our conspirator came up with, that'd be great. But I get the feeling there's still one last problem we have to encounter..."