Chapter 87 (1 of 2) The Tumultuous Past of the Goldcroft Heir. (Patreon)

A certain crafter stuck his head around a doorway, eyes narrowed. “Where’s the snake?”

Lucille didn’t look up and pulled the next page forward. “Why do you care?”

“For the last week he hasn’t come to bother me once. I can’t help being suspicious.”  Sedric walked forward and dumped a metal case on her desk, containing her armguards. “I’ve finished fine tuning these. Your suggestions helped a lot.”

“Good. And for your information, the snake is busy suffering through his chores under the watchful eye of the guardian spirit,” Lucy stressed.

Sedric crossed his arms. “He’s getting punished? Why?”

She put down her work and intertwined her fingers. Lucy rested her chin on them and smiled brightly. “For sabotaging a Stage when close to completion, not just once, but twice after I warned him after the first Stage.”

He flinched back. “Yeah, that would do it.” Sedric hesitated and gave her an odd look. “Are you going to be dealing with this… situation any time soon?”

Lucy leaned back and spun a pen. “Why, what ‘situation’ could you possibly mean?”

Sedric wordlessly gestured with both arms to the blonde-haired girl glaring at Lucy, looking around the doorframe into the room.

Lucille turned her gaze to the angry Prophetess, and nodded. “Ah, Annaliese. I didn’t see you there.”

“Don’t lie!” Annaliese replied, scowling. “I’ve been here for the last ten minutes! You’re just ignoring me!”

“Your evidence?”

The girl jabbed a finger at the arcane barrier completely covering the entrance of the study. Sedric, not being the one the barrier was protecting against, had been free to enter. Annaliese glared at her. “Why does this barrier only prevent me from entering?!”

Lucille considered it with a hand on her chin. After a long pause, she raised a finger. “…You’re unlucky.”

“I’m the Prophetess of Fate!”

“…Count Goldcroft, I need to check on the Prophetess’s brother, but for that I need the Prophetess to relocate,” Sir Albrecht spoke up wearily. He was standing behind his ward.

Lucy sighed and waved a hand, causing the barrier to disintegrate. “Fine. But Annaliese, keep in mind that I’m quite busy, don’t do anything that might disrupt my-”

Annaliese rushed forward and nearly pushed Lucille out of the armchair in an attempt to give her a hug.

Lucy groaned. “I knew this was going to happen…”

“How can you be so mean when I haven’t seen you for two months?” Annaliese complained, looking up at Lucille.

Lucy gazed silently at her for a second and then pushed her off to get up from the chair. She rolled her eyes and sighed when as she was leaving her study, the girl followed after her.

“Tell me what’s been happening while I’ve been gone! You went on an adventure without me again, didn’t you?” Annaliese asked with suspicion.

Lucille spotted a potential distraction and grabbed the Prophetess by the shoulders, spun her around to face another corridor, then pushed her over to the aide that had just come across them. “Why don’t you ask Vincent all about the events of the past two months?” she suggested cheerily. “I’m sure he has the time to spare for you.”

Vincent blinked and pushed up his glasses. “Actually, Lucille, I’m just heading off to meet with a merchant of Chavaret-”

“See? He has plenty of time. Go ask him.” With that, Lucy walked off.

Annaliese blinked and then turned around to go after her. “But I don’t want to talk to Vincent.”

Vincent raised an eyebrow and pointed at himself as the others walked off. Lucy stopped on the spot as an idea came to mind. She turned to face Annaliese, and then snapped her fingers.

Annaliese’s eyes widened as the invisibility spell Lucy had cast activated and hid her form view. “Wait! No!”

Lucy felt that it was a sad day that the former Admiral of the Distorted Depths had to run from a girl more than ten times younger than her.

…

“Get someone to send these over to Jacques,” Lucy ordered the silver and red-haired man before her. Caius bowed and walked off as she turned around and saw her full sponsored party. Garthe and Larena were standing behind Marellen and Trisroa.

Lucille took one look at them and nodded. “You’ve heard from Vincent, I see. Come with me. We’ll talk in another room.”

Once they were in a lounge away from any accidental eavesdroppers in the form of servants, they sat down and Lucy crossed one leg over the other. “As Vincent has told you, Ravimoux did in fact follow up on your leads regarding the magical items and artifacts you uncovered.”

“Does that mean something interesting was… found?” Garthe asked with confusion. “I don’t understand how us saying that most of the artifacts had been made using Ancient-ranked Jade Rosewood meant anything.”

“Of course it meant something. We now know to investigate the Earldom of Kleur Émeraude in the Everlasting Evenfall Mountains Major Kingdom.” Lucy beamed as she leaned her chin on her hands. “Jade Rosewood, while valuable, is not particularly rare, unless it comes to the Kleur Émeraude Earldom which managed to cultivate a variety capable of reaching Ancient ranked.” She spread her hands. “Curiously, Alichanteu were not responsibly for importing it to the Beast Realm. They were, however, in charge of exporting it to the Mystical Realm after the handover.”

“This is important, because…?” Larena spoke up.

Lucille raised a finger. “The ones who obtained the Jade Rosewood were actually vassals of Chavaret. Ravimoux additionally uncovered that a woman of an Alichanteu clan had married into the vassal clan of Chavaret. This woman’s son is now the Lord of the Chavaret noble clan, meaning that this noble family has been covertly taken over to organise this deal in secrecy.”

“Yet from all this I can only see one issue. Who were the buyers of this ‘Jade Rosewood’?” Roa mused.

Lucy smirked and leaned back. “That’s the most important part. It turns out that quite frequently, cultivators of the wood phase tend to purchase Jade Rosewood to study when comprehending their Daos. While a magical material, they can still glean unique insights they wouldn’t be able to obtain from spiritual materials.”

Marellen frowned, rubbing his chin. “But why did Archmage Merkenia Alichanteu  sabotage the convoy? Is it possible that he was actually… trying to protect Alichanteu from being incriminated by their association to cultivators? But is that something that’s incriminating?”

Garthe raised an eyebrow. “Couldn’t it just be to hide evidence because things were getting risky or something? A cultivator just snuck into the Commission too.”

Larena shook her head. “Lucille hadn’t joined the Commission yet back then.”

Lucy nodded. “And from my discussions with the Counts, I discovered they were unaware of this subterfuge, so minimal risk existed.”

“If it’s Archmage Merkenia though, it makes sense he destroyed items that would help cultivators,” Marellen said with a thoughtful nod. “He’s married to a member of the Medolin Duchy, so he’s definitely part of Olden. Olden hates cultivators and still wants the Empire to go to war against them and conquer that realm. It’s why they support the Citadel, who fight against Diviners.”

Lucille had a different opinion.

I’m not so sure about that. It seems they’re forgetting the fact that this avalanche wasn’t supposed to happen. It was only a response to some unknown emergency situation.

She leaned back and crossed her arms, gazing at the roof in thought.

This faction hates these guys, this faction likes these guys… politics can’t be summed up so simply. Anything can persuade someone to work with their enemies for a common goal, if only for a moment. All the enemy has to do in extreme cases… is keep their identity hidden.

The faction behind this is important, yes, but in this situation the ‘goal’ is much higher priority so we can guess at how many factions are involved. Working conventionally by finding the major faction first is how this’ll have to proceed, however.

“We seem to heading towards an irrelevant subject,” Roa announced. She fixed an intent gaze Lucy. “Would I be correct in suspecting that you called us here not to discuss theories you have already considered, but to inform us of a plan?”

Lucille smiled and leaned forward. “Radical, Olden, or whoever, it doesn’t matter. Yet. All we need to do is set a trap and we can discover the second main force involved here.”

“Second?” Larena asked.

“The cultivators are the first, obviously.” Lucy shrugged. “As for the specific Sect, it doesn’t matter yet. I have strong suspicions, but nothing I can do much about now. However, as fortune – or misfortune – would have it, an intruder from the Heavenly Realm appeared a month ago, and the Commission Head has expressed a vested interest in discovering the person behind this.”

She pointed at them. “With the chaotic nature of the Commission right now, Counties eliminating spies left right and centre, guess who will be a little antsy to ensure all evidence of their association with cultivators is fully gone? Whoever it is, they’ll be the ones who return to the site of the avalanche and erase the final traces of potential proof. And we’ll be ready and waiting.”

Larena and Garthe traded vindictive smirks. Marellen nodded enthusiastically, probably enjoying the ‘puzzle’ of the situation.

“And how shall we lie in wait for them?” Roa asked solemnly, looking very intrigued by the plan.

“We need to keep the spotlight on me and Vincent,” Lucille replied, pressing her fingertips together. “In the second half of October, Vincent and I will be visiting Alichanteu and their vassals to meet with their craftsmen, the first of several visits to all the Counties. They wouldn’t dare attempt anything on us while everyone is focused on our presence, but it will be an opportunity to undertake other covert operations that appear unrelated to our presence there. Alichanteu is big enough that even with the eyes of the other Counties on them, their weaker vassals still have free movement.”

“Operations such as removing all of the incriminating Jade Rosewood,” Larena added.

Lucy nodded. “Exactly.”

“I believe they would still have reservations with our presence in the Commission,” Roa pointed out with a faint frown. “Our party of four are the only remaining witnesses of that event, so we present a risk. From their perspective, if we give the Counties some clue that make them suspicious right when they wish to visit the Beast Realm…”

“Which is why I’m removing you all from the Commission for the next month.” Lucille smirked and placed four envelopes on the coffee table between them. She slid them across. “Do you recall our discussion about sending you to Tartarus? It’s now October instead of September, but take the opportunity to complete the Stages and Rank up so that you can come back, stronger than ever before.”

“It’s not going to take a full month to do the Stages, though,” Garthe replied. “Maybe two weeks I could understand, given the general Quests we need to do to unlock the Stages, but a whole month?”

Lucille leaned relaxedly against the back of the couch. “I’m not one to waste an opportunity. Inside those four envelopes are the locations of four different members of Tartarus I want you to visit. I want you to extend an invitation to a meeting about Ravimoux’s new black market plans in the near future. Each one of you has a different individual, so yes, you will have to split up. They’re the members of Tartarus I think each of you will get along with the most.”

“I didn’t know you were so familiar with people from Tartarus,” Larena said with surprise. She pulled out the letter in her envelope out of curiosity and tilted her head at the names. “I have two people here.”

“Well, you’re already a Rank-3, so you don’t need to prepare for the Stages.” Lucy straightened her gloves. “Also, I’ve given you all a full month because these individuals of Tartarus tend to like their little… pranks.”

“…pranks,” Roa repeated with suspicion.  

“Trials, if you will. They like to test mortals and consider it a kind of hobby in a way. I have faith you’ll pass the trials without too much difficulty.” Lucille smiled and gave them a light shrug. “It’s this, or bloodthirsty monstrous undead who want to kill you. When it comes to Tartarus, if you find an undead who doesn’t want to kill you, you take what you can get.”

She steepled her fingers. “So, are you all up for the task?”

They traded looks, and if by unanimous agreement, they all nodded firmly and pocketed the envelopes. “We’ll be sure to be back by November,” Marellen said.

“Good.” Lucille got up from the couch and headed towards the door. “Take the week to prepare everything you need. Get outfitted in equipment specially made to help against death mana, learn the skills I bought-”

“You got the skills already?! Awesome!” Garthe jumped out and ran out of the room, leaving the others gazing after him with exasperation.

As Marellen and Larena left, Trisroa dipped her head to Lucy. “We will… do as you say.”

Lucille was left alone in the living room. While she was aware of the young girl still attempting to find her, she took the brief moment of spare time she had to check up on another unique ‘person’.

She immersed herself in the fake senses of her Simulacrum Realm and blinked when instead of the infinite, endless white expanse, she was in a flourishing jungle.

“I recall mentioning that the Dungeon you’ll be assimilating is one filled with precious gems and stone walls,” Lucille announced aloud with bemusement.

“I have been experimenting with the stores of monster types I have in my Lore-Base, both flora and fauna. Come, follow the path made from luminescent moss.”

The voice of the artificial Dungeon echoed out and Lucy curiously walked along the small trail, underneath massive roots and past stacks of flat fungi. The earth bent beneath her as ‘Sphere’ pulled her past the long trail and right to where it wanted her to be.

Lucy let out an observant hum when she appeared in front of a raised walkway in the centre of the jungle, leading towards a pyramidal structure of some kind. Its aesthetics suggested it was like the ancient ruins found on Old Era planes, if they had been perfectly preserved from the time of their heyday.

“Very… rustic,” she announced, planting her hands on her hips.

“Do you appreciate my utilisation of Sky Bender Vines to generate the illusion of outside?” The physical representation of the Dungeon appeared next to her. While still metallic in skin tone, the Dungeon had progressed well in making its appearance look more human. The green eyes had gained the spark of intelligence behind them, and instead of a magical projection, it appeared it had created some kind of metal vessel to use as a body. Perhaps it could be said… that it had created another golem to puppet.

Lucy looked up. “It’s very well done. I could imagine people living here for longer amounts of time with a ceiling like that.” She glanced at its body again. “I see you have plans to make physical contact with your delvers.”

“I understand your reasoning for not informing the Eternal Empire of my existence. I have no desire to be enslaved to consume Dungeons and generate materials to satiate their desires.” The M.C.R.U turned to look at its creation. “However, I still wish to communicate with the delvers and study them. For that, I designed this vessel to appear as a ‘sentient golem’ who can communicate with them on equal terms.”

Lucy held her chin and studied it. “Equal terms might be a stretch. The Empire is not as progressive as it seems on the outset. Sentient golems still find it hard to be treated as free thinking beings, unless they’re on the plane of the Metal-Borne Coalition.”

“That is why I tried to appear as visually human as possible.”

She nodded. “A wise choice.” Lucille glanced at the structure before them. “Do you plan to build this in your new location?”

“I am undecided, as I have yet to come up with a reason to create this outside of aesthetical purposes,” it replied robotically.

“If there is one thing about delvers I know, it’s that they love any sort of structure like this,” Lucy said with a smirk. “It makes them believe there are valuable treasures inside. You could use this to challenge the adventurers who are greater threats.” She turned back to it. “Have you decided on what your fake ‘Boss Monster’ will be?”

The artificial Dungeon nodded. “It is my current appearance. It is made of metal mana and monster essence.”

Lucy blinked and took in its appearance again. “I see…” She looked around once more and then nodded to it. “I’ll set aside some time to have a longer discussion with you. While I can accelerate the time in here, that requires a bit of concentration, so I’d prefer to do that when I have free time.”

Before she left, Sphere said something else. “Your bond came to me earlier and proposed a plan that will enable you to increase your combat capabilities.”

She looked back and raised an eyebrow. “How?”

“He told me that with your control over this artificial realm, any construct you make will be too predictable to give you a worthy challenge. I believe I could rectify this.” It waved a hand and gestured to the jungle. “Now that I have joined the realm, my knowledge of monsters and their abilities can be mimicked by the realm. As long as you restrict your own immersion in the realm, I could create monsters here and-”

“-I could accelerate time while I fight them,” she finished, thinking deeply. “I had originally discussed this with my bond when I first gained my complete Origin Skill, but because every creature I manifested here I’d know the battle patterns and abilities like the back of my hand, I knew it would be difficult to challenge myself. Scytale has been… unexpectedly helpful.”

Lucille looked up at Sphere. “And you’re okay with doing this for me?”

“Stronger capabilities for you mean less risk and an earlier date for my transferal to the Minor plane,” it stated like it was obvious. “Currently, you are my backer. Any improvement to your strength will be beneficial to me as we are in a relationship of equals.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Really.”

“There is also… something… else.” It was almost like the artificial Dungeon hesitated before continuing, “I have developed a kind of emotion towards you. From my time watching the events of when you first discovered this emotion, I have determined that I feel ‘gratitude’. It motivates me to offer you more and greater cost to me for some unknown reason relating to your deal with me.”

Lucy smiled. “That would do it. Just do focus too hard on trying to pay me back for anything. You still haven’t seen how great a help you will be for me in the future.”

When she had returned her consciousness to her body, an idea popped up. One that resolved a large problem she had been considering.

If I want to create a version of Earth’s Network for the Tower, then I’ll have to make the Simulacrum access propagate in a way that can’t be traced back to me. That could be through Sphere’s spiritual energy coming in contact with the delvers souls. But as for making it propagate outside of the Dungeon…

She paused and then smirked.

What if I enlist the help of Ravimoux to begin spreading a few rumours that a ‘secret’ city can be accessed by people with the Simulacrum brand they gained in the Synadis Dungeon? Nothing can be taken out of the Simulacrum Realm, obviously, but if Sphere and I create a zone here that has an amazing appearance as well as experiences such as food and other benefits others will want to enjoy… maybe I could make it a repository for some special information about the future and could subtly begin spreading word around through the Simulacrum too…

With the virtual city only being accessed by people who had been to the Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis, people will be more likely to visit the Dungeon city when it forms, and the Simulacrum brand will be spread outside when the visitors leave, trying to prove the location’s existence.

And nothing would spread rumours like wildfire more than the Streisand Effect. Where calling something a secret… makes people more curious about what’s hidden.

It seems I’ll have to make amendments to the black market plan and include it over there too. I have to be careful, though. If this ‘secret city’ phenomenon becomes too common place in locations owned by the Commission, it’ll draw suspicion.

The fastest way for it to spread to the Aeternus plane would be for the Dark Wizards to become interested in the secret city and begin treating it as an asset. Old Era information, maybe a few records with some of the advanced magical theories I discovered…

There were many avenues for this venture. If she brought in the time dilation aspect too, the possibilities were endless. Unfortunately, she had to continue her musings later. She had a needy guest to attend to.

“Lucy! Why didn’t you tell me you went to the Beast Realm?!” Annaliese complained, running into the room. “You got Hargrave a present too! What about me? Did you get me anything?!”

Lucy noticed the appearance of a silvery winged snake on the girl’s shoulders and narrowed her eyes at the bond who was shirking his chores. Scytale avoided eye contact.

“Hey! Stop ignoring me!” Annaliese planted her hands on the coffee table. Raegan and Sir Albrecht followed and sat down on the couch behind her.

With slow, methodical movements, Lucy reached into her dimensional bag and took out a decorative hair comb. Knowing the Prophetess’s favour of wearing her hair half up, she had bought the accessory. But she didn’t want to hand it over so easily.

Annaliese’s face brightened. “Is that for me?”

Lucille put the hair comb in her own hair. “It’s for me,” she stated calmly.

The room went silent save for the snake who had burst out into loud laughter and tumbled off of the girl’s shoulders. With a golden glow, Scytale turned into a human and clutched his stomach as he kept laughing.

Then there was a thunk as the hair ornament slid out of Lucy’s dead straight hair and hit the carpet. She looked down with a strange expression until Scytale’s laughter was renewed. Lucy glared at the snake. “Quit laughing at my expense. As much as the appearance of me wearing something in my hair looks amusing to you, I don’t find it quite so amusing.”

Lucy wordlessly passed the gift over to Annaliese, who eagerly took it and admired the ability of the spell within to change the item’s colour on her whim. Then she blinked and gave Lucille a curious look. “You never wear hair ornaments? I mean, I guessed that, but not even in the past?”

“In case you didn’t see it, my hair is very texture-less,” Lucy stated flatly. “I have, of course, tried to tie my hair up in the past because long hair is annoying, but any hair ties I use slide off within the hour.”

“I once joked that her slippery hair and personality must be why we get along,” Scytale added with a grin.

“Huh,” Annaliese said with surprise. She looked down at the comb and turned to Lucy. “So… this is mine?”

“Yes. Just get it checked by Sir Albrecht so none of the Sages have an opportunity to make me take the fall for a supposed assassination attempt,” Lucy replied dismissively.

“They wouldn’t do something like that,” Annaliese said, looking confused.

Sir Albrecht looked like he wanted to refute her answer, until Annaliese continued, “If they wanted you to be falsely accused then they would’ve used their allies to pressure the Counties and force the Princes with government positions to say you’re guilty regardless of any proof because they’re lazy.”

Lucille raised her eyebrows. “That’s oddly specific.”

The Prophetess shrugged. “I overheard their plans to do that to a Dukedom of a Major Plane.”

As the blonde-haired girl hummed and positioned the comb while asking her brother if she was doing it right, Lucy exchanged strange looks with Jasten Albrecht. The Paladin sighed and shook his head as he took the comb off of the girl to check for danger.

“Hey Raegan….” Scytale smirked. “I got you something too.”

“I don’t need your junk,” Raegan replied. He crossed his arms. “I’ve heard from Sedric about the cursed item you gave him.”

“Where would I have gotten a cursed item in the Beast Realm?” Scytale shook his head. “Nope, it’s not that. But I’m pretty sure you’ll like it. Aren’t you curious?”

“No.” The dark-haired boy turned away.

“Even if it’s a weapon…?” Scytale stressed as his smirk grew wider.

Raegan hesitated but remained firm in his conviction to not give in. “I’m not interested.”

“That’s a shame.” Scytale shrugged and pulled out a small knife, running a finger over the edge to test its sharpness. “I guess I’ll have to find a use for this trapped knife myself. Using poison isn’t really my thing, but if it’s a weapon like this with a secret channel to store poison, it’ll be cool just to have, right?”

“I’ve changed my mind.” Raegan stormed over and tried to grab the knife from him. “I’ll take that gift, thank you very much. You don’t fight with weapons anyway, so it’s useless to you.”

“Nope, you said you didn’t want it!”

As they began bickering over it, Sir Albrecht frowned. “I don’t like the idea of Raegan having a weapon on his person that enables his… tendencies…”

Lucy shot the Paladin a look. “Don’t tell me he’s killing small creatures or something?”

Raegan heard them and clicked his tongue. “Why would I kill animals? They live pitiful enough lives already. No, it’s only enjoyable and satisfying when someone high up takes a big fall." His grin grew vicious. "Like one of the Light Tower wizards from All-Aeon Athenaeum who visit to study me… when can I get the chance to try out being the Antithesis for real on them?”

“No!” Annaliese marched over and whacked the back of her brothers head. “What have I told you about that attitude?! That’s bad, Raegan!”

“At least Annaliese has a good head on her shoulders,” Lucy remarked with bemusement.

“Only come up with plans to ruin the Sages and rude nobles who order me to give them  Fate!” Annaliese ordered, wagging a finger at him. “Just because they’re powerful doesn’t mean they’re mean! You should be trying to ruin the villains if you’re the enemy of the Citadel!”

Lucille gazed at the sibling duo with incredulity. She turned to face their guard. “You’re terrible at parenting!”

“P-Parenting?!” Jasten stared at her with the same level of shock and horror. “I’m thirty two!”

“No, no, both of you are missing the big picture.” Scytale nodded sagely and lifted his chin up as he raised a finger in front of the siblings. “You’re being too obvious! The most important thing when you’re trying to screw someone over is to keep it subtle. Don’t let anyone know what you plan to do, even your friends!”

“Forget the distorter, everybody in the Headquarters will be the death of me this time around,” Lucy muttered too low for them to hear. The Paladin sent her a quizzical look but it was obvious he didn’t understand any part of the picture. Lucille took out her jug artifact to pour herself some coffee and began sipping it. “So, Annaliese. I hope you and your brother don’t plan on putting these plans of ruining the Sages into action within the next century.”

“We don’t have any plans to do that,” Raegan scoffed. “But if the right opportunity comes along… well…”

“And what kind of opportunity would this be?” Lucy took another sip.

“When your plans of Realm Domination succeed!” Annaliese announced.

The coffee went down the wrong pipe and Lucy spluttered. Scytale grinned.

“…I have no plans of ‘Realm Domination’ as you put it, and even if I did, I’d have to be a lot stupider than I am right now to proceed with something like that,” Lucille finally retorted. “I am a leader of a merchant organisation, let alone a member of the Empire’s nobility. Treason that would be, and I’d rather live, thank you very much.”

The siblings stared at her until they turned to each other. “She didn’t fall for it, did she?” Annaliese asked Raegan.

He shook his head. “I told you. You wouldn’t get her to tell us her plans that easily.”

Lucy sighed and put her coffee down, feeling tired after dealing with the two sibling’s antics. “Anyway, a belated happy 17th birthday to you, Annaliese, considering we couldn’t meet last month.”

Annaliese beamed. “Thanks!” She sent Scytale a sneaky look. “Scytale told me in your home world you celebrate birthdays and give each other presents every year though…”

“Don’t push your luck. You got that hair comb from me, that’s enough.” Lucy stood up and snatched the knife that the boys were bickering over. She passed it to Jasten. “Sir Albrecht can keep hold of this and control when you have it while you stay here. I’m not having any of us get poisoned because you thought it would be funny, Raegan.”

“I wouldn’t do that! ….probably!”

“Sometimes, I wonder how you can be so unfazed by his personality,” Sir Albrecht muttered as she passed.

I lived in the Death Monarch’s private dimension for five years while dealing with his humour. I think I can deal with a twisted little kid.

“Let’s just say I have experience with people who have morbid humour,” she stated dryly. “I’m going to have dinner. Stay here and come up with conspiracies about my plans all you want, but I want food.”

Scytale, Raegan and Annaliese glanced at each other, then stood up and followed her. If there was one thing everybody enjoyed about the Headquarters, it was that their chefs were the best.

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I AM SO SORRY

I forgot to schedule the chapter... because I went to the One Piece symphony...

...it was good though.