I shook hands with Olga to seal our deal. Finding a sturdy wooden crate nearby, I carefully placed the cylindrical container holding the Pure Gold inside, packing it with layers of protective material. It was time to prepare for our departure.
"Olga, if there's anything else you want to bring, speak up now," I said, while stuffing the research papers and essential books Robin had sorted into my bag.
"Well, sa... we're going to need funds to start over. I'll take any ore that looks like it'll fetch a price," Olga replied, hoisting up several chunks of raw minerals scattered around the lab.
I nodded and helped her fill a spare sack with the ores. Once finished, the three of us stepped out of the laboratory. I shouldered the heavy pack containing the Pure Gold, the documents, and the minerals, then scooped up Robin and Olga under each arm.
"Alright, we're heading back. We're flying again, so keep your mouths shut tight unless you want to bite your tongues."
"Ugh, flying again...?" Olga groaned.
"Olga, we don't exactly have a boat, so it's this or the acid," Robin pointed out.
BOOM! BOOM! The sound, like a battery of cannons, echoed through the cavern as I kicked off the ground and surged into the air. The laboratory shrank beneath us in an instant.
"I don't suppose I'll ever come back here again... Goodbye, sa," Olga whispered. Her voice carried a lonely weight that stuck with me.
As I navigated, I realized something irritating: based on the layout, if we had just walked around the exterior of the ruins instead of going through the trapped entrance, we probably could have reached the lab on foot!
Cursing my lack of map data, I blasted through the second stomach and back into the first, landing softly on the same beach where we'd started. I set the two of them and the luggage down.
"Right. We've been in those ruins for hours. You must be starving. Let's take a break and eat. I'll go hunt for something—any requests?"
"Meat!! I want meat, sa! And make it a big, hearty serving!" Olga demanded.
"I'll leave it to you, Uncle," Robin smiled. "Should we get the fire ready while you're gone?"
"Yeah, thanks, Robin. And keep an eye out for dinosaurs... especially watch over Olga, alright?" I whispered the last part to Robin before disappearing into the forest.
Now then... where is Dr. Myskina hiding?
I prowled through the jungle until I spotted a plump, well-fed dinosaur. With a swift Tempest Kick, I severed its head, hoisted the carcass onto my shoulder, and continued my search.
A few moments later, a rustle in the bushes caught my ear. I reflexively drew the Bear Kong and aimed it at the foliage.
"Wait! Wait! Please don't shoot!"
A man emerged with his hands raised. He was wearing a grotesque, misshapen costume designed to look like a dinosaur.
He pulled off the headpiece to reveal his face. His once-blonde hair had turned a dusty gray, and his beard had grown into a tangled mess.
But the most striking thing about him was...
"Are you... actually human?"
"How rude! Of course I'm human!" the man huffed. "Though I suppose the suit is misleading. I use it to trick the beasts so I can scavenge for food..."
He hopped out of the costume with a grunt. He was incredibly stout—shaped almost exactly like a barrel. He hardly looked human at all, but I'd found him: Myskina Acier. Olga was probably famished, so it was time to wrap this up.
As we walked back to the beach, he explained that he'd heard a series of cannon-like booms a few hours ago. He'd initially dismissed it as a hallucination, but when the sounds repeated, he dared to hope there was someone else in the stomach and came looking.
When I confirmed he was indeed Myskina Acier and told him that his daughter Olga was alive and under my protection, the man broke down.
"She's... she's alive? Thank God... oh, thank God! I put that poor child through so much. I couldn't be happier!" He wept openly, his tears soaking into his matted beard.
When we reached the shore, Robin and Olga looked up from their conversation. They stared at the strange, barrel-shaped man with confusion at first, but then Olga's eyes went wide.
"No way... is that you, old man... sa?"
"Robin, this is Dr. Myskina Acier. I found him 'marooned' in the forest. Olga, it seems your father survived being swallowed two hundred years ago, too.
Though... he's been eating nothing but dinosaur meat in a nest for two centuries, which explains the... physique."
"Olga! You're alive! I have no right to say this now, but... I was so worried! I prayed every day that you were safe!" Acier cried out, waddling toward her with his arms wide.
Olga didn't hesitate. She sprinted toward him.
"You... you CRAPPY OLD MAN!!"
She launched a full-force flying dropkick into his stomach. Between her light weight and his significant "natural padding," it didn't seem to do much damage, but it certainly stopped him in his tracks.
"Wha—!? What was that for, Olga!?"
"Shut up! Why are you still alive?! I thought you were dead this whole time! And why! Why didn't you just TELL ME, you crappy father!?"
She was screaming now, her voice cracking. "The Pure Gold was for me, wasn't it?! To stop my disease! If you'd just explained it properly, I wouldn't have... I said such horrible things to you! Even if I didn't know, it doesn't change what I said! You must have been suffering so much too... why didn't you just tell me, sa!?"
The weight of two centuries of resentment and regret came pouring out.
"Olga..."
"I'm sorry for everything I said, sa... I blamed you for Mom's death for so long... but... you have to tell people things, or they won't understand, sa... Papa..."
She lunged forward again, this time throwing her arms around him and sobbing into his chest. Acier held her tight, his own tears falling onto her head.
"Uncle," Robin whispered, coming to my side. "Did you know the Doctor was alive?"
"I had a suspicion it was a possibility," I lied smoothly. I knew he was alive, of course, but that secret was staying buried.
"Well, the fire is ready," Robin said, gesturing to the hearth. "Shall we eat? You did bring back a prize, after all."
"Good idea. Before that crybaby girl remembers she's hungry and starts complaining."
I turned my back on the sobbing father and daughter, setting to work on the dinosaur meat. It was time for a long-overdue family dinner.
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