Resting against the side of the right staircase, Inkaro finished recounting his most recent magical endeavour, to his previous ghost-hunting partner's newfound regret and ear-smoking bewilderment, "But enough about my antics, what brings you to this place again?"

  Momentarily stunned, emphasis on the stunned part, Louailanye stared soulless daggers at Inkaro, wondering if being shocked by his achievements was worth getting a migraine over from trying to rationalise it all; that ode thing was the real mind melter for the girl, with how absurd the thing's premise was alone. Synthesising stigmas of all things. The thought made the kitsune-ear-having girl want to puff up and supersize her tails to hide away from Inkaro's question, hoping in some child-esque delusion that hiding herself would keep her from having to burden herself with exposing her secrets to Inkaro of all people. But she didn't allow her silly train of thought to manifest into reality, other than a stronger pout, before Louailanye clicked her tongue.

  "As far as my pops is concerned, I'm doing some research for my next creative venture."

  "But, you're actually doing something sneaky; how bratty of you," G.Galore murmured aloud, louder than intended; however, being heard by the kitsune girl was the aim of her provocation, so being a little bit louder was easy enough to overlook, this time around.

  On the matter of the kitsune passing girl, she was already pouting to a slight extent, having started doing so roughly around... the second G.Galore started talking— the gall the kitsune-ear having girl thought.

  "Is the word brat all she can think about?" Louailanye grumbled under her breath, swatting her tails behind herself with childish ferrosity as G.Galore recorded every second. For research, of course. But it didn't take Louailanye long to snip her tail wagging short, aggressively so, especially with how obvious G.Galore's inspection of her mannerisms was. "...as I was saying, in truth, I'm in the middle of tracking something."

  "Something?" Inkaro tilted his head to the side, eyes closed with an intensity that opposed his keen inquisitiveness, that overbearingness easily interfered with G.Galore's ability to keep her recording at max resolution.

  "Yeah, something, because if I told you, you'd only wanna stick your nose into my business." Louailanye's words were crisp and astute, displaying no signs of willingness to disclose even the tiniest tidbit of information on whatever she was desperate to horde for herself.

  "Does it have something to do with those stigma-related things in the basement?"

  Louailanye's ears perked up, standing at full attention, pupils dilating to almost become fully obscured and eclipsed by the slits which were settled over her eyes. With her tails spiking up into monsterously spikey pinecones, the kitsune-eared girl had half a mind to willingly tap into some of her stigma powers, just to let off some steam.

  "I- don't even know why I bothered trying to hide it." She cupped her face, having failed to pinch her nose and deciding correcting herself was a waste of mental strength, so landed on maintaining her unintentional facepalming, to safe face. "Yes, I was tracking a concentrated signature of multiple stigmas, happy?"

  "Indeed, it sounds interesting: I do want to see what's causing multiple types of stigmais' energies to gather so easily," Inkaro mentioned earnestly, "What do you... think?"

  Louailanye was tinted by a blood-red hue, from the tips of her toes to the peaks of her fluffy kitsune ears; no part of her was spared from her rage's rising influence. She was made, so mad that not even the mental image of picturing herself as a kettle could do anything to stifle her impending outburst. Then Louailanye snapped, screaming her head off at the fact that Inkaro figured out the peculiar happenstances of the abandoned manor in a few measly minutes when it had taken her three whole days and nights to do the same thing.

  Meanwhile, by the fountain, Myhail briefly peered towards the manor at the sound of the screaming before smirking to himself, realising it wasn't a terror-induced one. Had he registered it as Nova, Myhail was sure he wouldn't have been able to keep himself from laughing at his friend's expense. As the prince pictured how angry Nova would be if she left the manor without a single battle under her belt, Lyunoto peered through the vines of his shroomcap to see the bizarre reflection displayed in the fountain's water.

  Never removing his sights from the fountain, Lyunoto lightly brushed his bristling cap vines to enhance his visibility: "Wonder, who that is... doesn't sound like anyone we know."

  "Is that so? I suppose it isn't surprising we are not the only ones here, or maybe it's an apparition voicing their displeasure at failing to scare the others," Myhail remarked amusedly as he rested a fist on his hip. He didn't lend much credence to the second possibility, but knowing the bunch in there, it wasn't entirely implausible.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "Sounds. About right."

  Myhail nodded in content. But before long, his attention was drawn back to the surface of the substance trapped within the fountain. It was an odd black substance that resembled normal water after being dumped full of ink or black food dyes. The prince found it hard to decide which of the two options was more concerning. But whatever the origin of the liquid could potentially be, the two guys were sure of something: the black water was terrible at recreating reflections.

  Although perhaps the tree tops seen deep inside the water should've made it clear to the duo that it was a simple case of dyed water.

  However, that fact was soon brought to the forefront of Myhail's mind as he spotted something dashing between those sunken treetops, forcing him to squint his eyes just to barely make it out. He didn't spare a moment for Lyunoto to spot the weak speck of light before the prince vaulted off the fountain's wall and dropped through the water like it was air.

  Left to watch as the prince not only dived bombed further into the fountain-contained forest but also take on a grayscaled appearance, Lyunoto elected to not follow in Myhail's footsteps, mainly because the founatin wasn't big enough for him to fit through, and positioning himself in a way too fit was simple too much of a hassle, especially imagining how he'd attempt to get out without the ability to fly.

  Now that he thought about it, how did Myhail intend to get out?

  Back inside the manor, but not in the landing, Yuuvia and Anazenpha dashed through a door, the first one they'd encountered that led to an oddly large kitchen. Before anything, even the air, had a chance to follow them in, the noble humalian girl slammed it shut, sighing out tangible relief at finally having escaped being manhandled by Nova. With a chance to catch her breath being offered to her on a silver platter, Yuuvia balled up her fist, like she was ready to punch someone, only to shoot her mouth open in a silent gasp of self-reflection. Draping her arms over her eyes, Yuuvia almost felt ashamed of herself for genuinely considering Nova more annoying than that Lizuranti.

  Yuuvia bit her upper lip in frustration, utterly miffed as a single train of thought entered her mind. "Why does it have to be so cumbersome to be noble?"

  Almost like the mention of noble was some sort of trigger, the clamouring choir of metal sang from deeper in the kitchen as multiple utensils and kitchenware dropped to the smooth floor. Naturally, the sound caught the duo's attention, Yuuvia snapped her head right to the sound's main source as she shipped out her Crescent of the Waxing Moon Tapestry, priming it right on her obscured target. But unlike the startled girl, Anazenpha didn't bother turning her shut eye stare away from Yuuvia, not even for a second. However, as the culprit behind the failed surprise attack wobbled its way into view, Yuuvia's face went from stoic seriousness to audacious and awstruck dismay: why? Because the enemy had to be one species in particular: a slime!

  Watching the mass of beige slime, coated in a cake batter-looking shell, rise from behind the kitchen's centre counterspace, Yuuvia exhaustedly slumped her whole body while groaning deeply. "This has to be some twisted joke, right? Whatever stigmai's got a bone to pick with me sure is a weasel for not showing their face, and playing such games with me."

  "I'd firmly recommend refraining from trying to antagonise the stigmai behind this place's corruption, Yuuvia." Hlyswo's voice abruptly announced in Yuuvia's mind, lacking any hint of his usual jovial flair that instantly snuffed out any semblance of frustration right out of Yuuvia, replaced by a different feeling: unbridled worry. The simple fact that that headache of a stigmai was giving her sound advice for once was genuinely nerve-rattling. It left Yuuvia shivering, much to Anazenpha's confusion, given the room wasn't cold, even for a cold-blooded individual such as herself.

  But concerning herself with the origin of Yuuvia doing those funny movements could wait, the snake girl had a more indulgent task on her plate.

  Anazenpha tensed her legs and arms, bracing herself for physical combat, as her little tail wagged, which Yuuvia recognised as a snake's first indication of intending to strike. And given Ana hadn't made any moves to get her tome from Yuuvia's thigh band, the noble-aesthetic obsessed girl knew only one thought was on Ana's mind: slime eating.

  "If you're thinking of eating that thing, I'd suggest-"

  "For the record, all of that slime's body is even the solidified slime that looks like cake, is edible," Hlyswo interjected, feeling that it didn't sit right with him to let his last words before departing be anything remotely serious. Yuuvia was left even more speechless when the Stigmai of Riches left without any extra fanfare.

  Awaiting for Yuuvia to finish her sentence, Anazenpha rocked her head to the left and perplexedly stuck the end of her forked tongue out: "Suggest?"

  "Forget what I was going to say, do as you please," Yuuvia grumbled deflatedly while waving her hand, only for a strong swoosh of wind from Ana zipping away to blow past her. It was almost strong enough to knock Yuuvia off balance, had she not been using her staff for balance. It wasn't too long before the cacophony from various forms of splats sang through the kitchen: some wet, some gloopy, but all equally detrimental to the slime monster's chances of survival. Yuuvia didn't even get the opportunity to put her weapon away before a chunk of slime splatted her in the face, which was swiftly made the target of Anazenpha's tongue as the snake girl jumped from the slime's main body to Yuuvia. Through the relentless licking at the hands of Ana's tongue, Yuuvia vaguely made out her friend saying something about saving her, or something like that.