Storyteller Of Zero

by Kremant

For the Isekai lovers who love seeing someone else being summoned than the other guy! Louise will perform the ritual to summon her Familiar. Only this time, the one she will summon will be someone who will cause quite the shock and surprise all around him. And the only thing he brings along... Is a Tome? Just what kind of stories are about to be unleashed upon Halkeginia?

10. SOZ-Episode 9-A Storyteller's Treatment

It was night at the famous academy of magic, and everyone was already in their rooms preparing for sleep.

Everyone but a few quite known characters.

The scene moves inside Louise's room, where the pink-haired girl, along with Kirche and Tabitha, are seen seated in chairs side by side together with class-type of desks before them, and with Siesta along with Jerry Mouse upon her shoulder watching from far behind, standing in attention at the whole thing with a sweat drop, as an obese, tall man with a small, bald head, a big softly pinkish nose, and a bushy mahogany-colored mustache, who wears tinted glasses, a red coat sporting two square metal buttons on both sides of the chest in gold and a silver zipper at its middle, white gloves on his hands, and a pair of black pants with matching boots, is seen beside a blackboard in front of the girls as he points with a thin, metal, pointy stick at different parts of an image depicting specific parts of a car. [Doctor Ivo Eggman Robotnik from the Sonic Series, teaching about car science.]

"And that's how you build, like that Storyteller individual wants me to refer to as, a normal car." Dr. Eggman says, a bit displeased at going with the more simple description, as he turns to the girls after having finished with who knows how many hours of detailed explanation.

With the said explanation done, Louise appears wide eyed from obvious total confusion, the redhead tries to not sleep on her seat while having her hand/arm supporting her head on the desk, and the blue-haired girl simply remaining her stoic self while in complete attention of the information she received.

"Um-" The pink-haired girl begins quite nervous. "C-Could you repeat the last few parts again, please? I kind of got lost halfway there."

The man at that sighs while turning his head to the side as he places two finger upon the bridge of his nose annoyed. "I could just show them through first-hand experience of how it is done, an actual pactice for better understanding, but NO, we have to be careful with such things so early he says. I can't give you infinite components with my current power capacity, or allow you to harvest the different materials of the land since we have not taken the ok from the princess herself to do so and we must be respectful toward her he says."

Dr. Eggman then looks up to the ceiling as he clenches a fist angrily. "You're lucky I have great respect for you and actually enjoy your company, or else-"

As the man rants about at an imaginary Aristidis, Kirche leans toward Tabitha to whisper. "Say, why are we going through all this as well, Tabitha?"

"Interesting." The blue-haired girl simply whispers back to her friend as she keeps her attention at the still ranting man.

"Well, it is in a way how such things can move without a horse and all, but having to listen to every single little details is just..." The redhead trails off with a sweat drop, not sharing that much her friend's interest in the subject, and then begins looking around the room for a certain someone who is absent. "By the way, where is Aristidis again?"

"Outside reading." She replies in the same way like before.

Kirche is surprised. "Again, seriously? He and Louise just returned from their trip to the city."

"Looking for something." Tabitha tells her.

That catches the interest of the redhead. "Really? Did he tell you what he is searching for, or-"

"Enough chit-chat from the redhead over there." Dr. Eggman interrupts the talk with a serious expression while pointing the metal stick at the said girl, causing some trouble to the redhead for interrupting his class. "We will do a quick repetition about the subject, so you all better keep your full focus on me as I explain, and not slack off this time."

Louise feels quite bad for forcing the knowledgeable in science doctor to repeat himself just because she was unable to understand some of the parts herself, with Tabitha not having any problem about listening to the same things again, and with Kirche placing both hands upon her forehead while groaning in great frustration at the fact she has to listen to all that once more, as Siesta chuckles nervously and quietly at what she sees as misfortune for the two.

In the meantime outside of the main building, Aristidis is seen seated onto the well-kept grass close to the main entrance as he looks carefully through the pages of his Tome.

And he appears to be mildly, but obviously, irritated as he does so. "This is so annoying... Even with my current power, it is still not possible to call someone with the ability to cure her mother from what afflicts her for good- It should have not even BE that difficult!" He ends up saying even more irritated, but still quietly.

"For example, wouldn't have been nice for cases of emergency or of great need in general, to be able to summon this one right here as an example-" He says as he taps twice at the image currently looking at. "One of the many within, without my current limitation getting in the way, even if it meant having to wait for a specific amount of time till able to use it again? Would certainly not say no to th-"

Before he finishes that sentence, a glowing from above interrupts him and draws his attention, noticing coming from his forehead, which then tears the extra pitch-black layer, that he put there from the first episode, uncovering the A rune and source of said glowing, as he wonders a bit startled about the sudden occurrence, while he then looks at a glowing form taking the shape of a small, round being before him.

The scene then shows from the perspective of the said being, which has been already formed as indicated by the glowing's dissipation, looking at the more than surprised Storyteller.

Aristidis looks up at the Alpha rune on his forehead again, then at the page and the picture he was referring to, and again at the small being, which we see through its perspective raising what appears to be a stubby, pink, supposed hand toward him as it says "Hi!" in a childish-sounding voice.

The pitch-black Storyteller stays the way he is for a moment as he completely comes to the realization of the situation, and then places a palm upon his forehead while lowering his head in disbelief. "I feel so stupid for finding out about it just now after so long..."

The being utters a noise, presumably confused as to what is the Storyteller talking about.

Aristidis seemingly takes a deep breath, places down beside him the Tome, and with both hands takes and holds the being a bit higher before him as he looks happier now. "Hello, you! Long time no see."

The being exclaims happily at his friendliness.

The pitch-black Storyteller then appears very gleeful about as he looks upward at his Alpha rune. "And hello my new ultimate convenience."

That causes the being he holds to feel confused once again as to what he means.

The scene cuts back to Louise's room, where the pink-haired Noble tries her best to understand every little detail Dr. Eggman is teaching them about upon the blackboard, with the redhead now sleeping upon her desk, with the blue-haired girl keeping on focusing at the subject without problem, and with Siesta and jerry now no longer in the room.

That moment the door opens loudly as if kicked open, interrupting the teaching session, and startlingly waking up Kirche, as the four see Aristidis coming inside the room alone, and with quite the obvious enthusiasm upon his face.

"Hope you are done with the car-science-lesson, because I am in quite the incredible mood to begin that PARTY!" The mouthless Storyteller tells them real excited.

Kirche immediately gets up at the sound of that with a smile. "Yes! The party about the exceptionally successful mission you completed back at the capital. Finally!"

Louise sweat drops at the redhead, knowing full well she is mostly happy for not having to continue with the whole car-science teaching, but then looks at Aristidis with an awkward smile as she gets up too. "I-I wouldn't mind having a little break from the science explanation. What do you say, Tabitha?" Says the last part while looking at the blue-haired girl.

Tabitha takes a look at Aristidis, seeing him looking at her with both hands raised and clenched into fists in front of his chest while overenthusiastic, and then she simply nods at the pink-haired girl in agreement before getting up as well.

Dr. Eggman rolls his eyes. "Fine, have that party of yours."

He then walks toward the open door, as Aristidis steps aside for him, and stops in the middle of it as he turns to the Storyteller. "I will just go down and talk for a while with that Fujiwara guy and the living pile of rocks till you need me again."

"You sure you don't want to enjoy the party with us?" Aristidis asks him, and then looks at him somewhat mischievously. "We can watch the little adventures you had with Sonic."

Dr. Eggman that moment brings his now upsetting-looking face right in front of the Storyteller's, his nose pressing onto his, with the latter keeping on being as he is. "Not. Even. As a joke, pal."

After saying that, he turns and closes the door behind him hard while leaving.

Aristidis chuckles a bit in response to that in his amusement.

Louise raises an eyebrow. "What was all that about?"

The mouthless Storyteller turns to her. "He is the villain of the said series, and looking at his backside being repeatedly handled to him by a fast hedgehog is not something he would like reliving."

That shocks the three, Tabitha by a tiny bit.

"A villain?!" The pink-haired girl yells in her surprise after just learning about it, and then looks upset at him. "You've let us be taught by an evil person?!"

"Trust me, he is not as bad as you think, or used to be." Aristidis reassures her calmly. "Back in the day I was still learning about the few stories that remained, I learned his, had a proper talk with the doctor, and convinced him to change his ways. It was especially easy after I gave the ones who truly wronged him and his family in the past exactly what they deserved."

Louise relaxes a bit, now understanding a bit better about the case. "O-Oh, I see. There was a serious reason he ended up as a villain."

"Like I pretty much said once, not everyone is evil from the beginning." Aristidis tells her with a shrug, but then looks at the three with his previous enthusiasm. "But enough of that, it is party time!"

As soon as he says that, he snaps his fingers, and around the sides and corners of room's ceiling, fill with balloons tied together with sparkling ribbons of different bright colorations, somewhat amazing the three girls looking at them.

Then through the door, the maids Siesta and Cinderella enter, the former carrying in her hands four flat boxes that write pizza at their top, while the latter a metallic bucket in one hand with ice-cubes and three different types of refreshment bottles within, Coca-Cola, Orange, and Sprite, and in her other a tray with drinking glasses.

In the meantime, the Storyteller places his Tome below his TV, and connects them together.

"Did anyone say party?" The black-haired maid questions in a rhetorical manner and a smile, while Jerry Mouse is seen running on the floor beside her, before jumping upon the table to take his seat there.

"Because if not, we can simply take these back and go." The orange-haired maid jokingly tells them with a wink.

The three Noble girls look with interest at what the maids have brought as everyone walks toward the table, with the former and Aristidis taking their seats, with him sitting next to Louise of course, while the latter place everything appropriately before them, before the Storyteller conjures from thin air one extra chair next to him, and signing to Siesta with a finger to sit as well, which she does so with a smile almost as soon.

The pink-haired Noble then looks at him with some disbelief. "Before we start with this, you were SO right about this being more difficult to understand than expected, Aristidis."

Aristidis winks playfully at her. "Told you."

"Still, truly incredible that this, along with some others you have shown me, can be achieved without magic at all!" She adds amazed.

"Just wait till you get a glimpse of the more advanced pieces that exist within the many stories of my Tome eventually." He tells her gleefully while raising the Tome a bit before patting it once with his free hand, and then puts a hand on his chin. "And you know what? I think I will show you some from the doctor's universe. We are doing a Sonic Marathon, girls!"

The girls look at each other with quite the interest, Tabitha too, even though it is not as obvious due to her usual stoic nature.

Aristidis then turns to the blue-haired girl and the redhead. "Also get ready the things you are to take with you for tomorrow after this. We are leaving a day earlier, and yes, I have already informed the headmaster about it."

Kirche looks at him somewhat surprised and confused, with the other three sharing the said feelings. "Why the sudden change, darling?"

His attention is placed now fully at Tabitha, as he looks at her with a wink and a finger in front of his mouthless area. "You know how much I love surprising people. So, I will let YOU guess what that secret I hide is."

The blue-haired girl's eyes widen upon hearing that.

He made that so clear, that there is no way she could miss the meaning.

Tabitha turns around, covering her face that way from everyone's possible view, with Louise's eyes being wide open for a moment as well in understanding of the meaning behind Aristidis's words too, even if specific details about it are missing to her, before showing a small happy smile.

"Ehh?" The redhead begins in wonder as she puts both hands behind her head, and then smiles. "Must be something very great if you want to keep it as a surprise."

"You could say that." The pitch-black Storyteller tells her, before opening his flat box to reveal a round and nice-looking six-piece Pizza, which immediately catches the girl's interest-filled attention.

Soon after, they decide to open their own boxes as well, seeing different types of Pizza for each as their eyes shine with amazement at the new to them delicacy they are to try soon.

"Now-" He begins with much of glee while he moves his hand toward the TV, with its remote control, which was placed beside it, being pulled magically in the said hand, as the scene shows the five of them through the perspective of the said TV. "Let the Sonic Marathon officially begin." Says before pressing the button to open it.

By the end of this, the girls were both amazed, shocked, and entertained by the episodes they got to watch for the next few hours.

~The Next Day During Morning~

The scene shows the sun high enough to indicate the morning of the day, before moving outside of the academy's gate, showing Aristidis, Louise, Siesta, Tabitha and Kirche there beside a large luxurious black and silver colored carriage with black horses, which the former used before once, as the latter two enter within it.

The pitch-black Storyteller moves in front of the carriage's open door, and stops there as he turns toward the pink-haired girl and the black-haired maid. "Alright, girls, time for us to leave, but worry not, we will not be away for that long."

He looks at Siesta. "Siesta, make sure like always that Louise will have everything she needs while we are gone."

She bows respectfully. "Of course, Aristidis, dear."

Aristidis then looks to Louise. "And don't you worry about the case it takes us a bit longer to return than expected for a number of reasons. Just to be sure that you will definitely not die of starvation, I have already given the academy's kitchen personnel extra amounts of different types, unique and not to them, of food, along with extra, appropriate for the current age, recipes so they can use them, many containers for extra preservation of specific pieces, and I also already built a new makeshift cold storage room for them which my friend Frozone from the Incredibles will be responsible of."

After saying that, the scene cuts inside a room close to the academy's kitchen, where a tall and slender man is seen there, with dark skin and some stubble of facial hair, wearing a suit of white and light-blue color, along with special, protective goggles on his eyes, before the said man with a fast circling movement of his hands around him freezes the entire room, turning it into the makeshift cold storage the Storyteller was talking about, shocking and amazing the academy's personnel that watched the process as he looks at them with a smug smile, before the scene goes back to the previous two outside at the Academy's gate.

"You know, for even better food preservation." He adds, and then raises his head in a pompous manner. "And yes, I have also increased the guards around for your assured protection, of course."

Louise sweat drops at her Familiar's known excessiveness, but then lowers her head sad.

"Oh, also you may use any of the guards, or any of my Tome personnel really, as a way to communicate with me from afar in case of emergency, or if you have a need to hear of our latest news, and also make sure to not forget to train while I am awa-" Aristidis stops himself as soon as he notices the pink-haired girl's sad-looking face, and leans a bit toward her with a kind expression. "You feel sad about your most favorite person in the whole world having to leave for a little while?"

"Y-You overexaggerate things as usual." Louise tells him while looking to the side somewhat upset, not wanting to admit anything, but then turns her sad sight toward him again. "But yes, a bit. Things will be quite boring and quiet without you around."

"Even if I offer you this little guy as company?" The mouthless Storyteller asks her as he lifts from below him with both hands up to his torso a pink, wide and round being, with round red feet, that might just be small boots, blue eyes, two small blushing spots between the said eyes and the smiling mouth, and two stubby arms/hands. [Kirby from, you guessed it, the Kirby Series, here to offer his company service.]

Louise just looks at the small being in his hands for a moment, with it looking at her with its constant smile, the camera again back at her with a bit of zoom now, before going back at the smiling small one once more.

"Poyo!" Kirby simply exclaims happily with his child-like voice.

At that very moment, the pink-haired girl snatches the pink being off Aristidis's hands, and starts hugging and rubbing her cheek upon the round one incredibly delighted. "By the Founder, he is so CUTE!" Says before exclaiming in her great delight of the small one's cuteness, who is more than happy with her reaction.

While that was going on, with Siesta just standing there overwhelmed by Kirby's cuteness, the pitch-black Storyteller is seen already halfway to enter the carriage as he looks at them amused, before raising a hand to wave at them. "See you all soon!" Says just before closing the carriage's door behind him, with the carriage itself starting on moving just as soon on its way for Tabitha's place.

The two girls at the gate stop being crazy over Kirby for a moment as they notice the rest leaving, and along with him start waving their now raised hands at them as they yell their goodbyes.

An hour or so passes as the camera follows the carriage, before going inside to show Aristidis next to Tabitha while he reads one of the many stories of his Tome, as Kirche sits at the seat in front of them and simply listening too while looking at the two.

"And then Dr. Claw angrily yells one of his: I'll get you next time, Gadget!" He reads.

The blue-haired girl appears somewhat amused at that. "If he knew."

The mouthless Storyteller leans closer to her with a mischievous expression. "Easy to imagine the humiliation bound to be received, is it not?"

"It is." She nods as she smiles from the said slight amusement.

"You know-" The redhead suddenly begins, drawing their attention, as she smiles about while looking mostly at her close friend. "As surprising as this will probably sound to you, Aristidis, I have never seen Tabitha this talkative for as long as I know her, till she started interacting with you. You prove to be quite the influence for her."

Tabitha moves her eyes to the side while blusing softly, making obvious a slight awkwardness about the fact.

Aristidis places the Tome beside him, before leaning back on his seat as he moves both hands behind his head, with his expression now pompous. "Am I not an influence for all who get to meet my exceptionally exemplar self?"

"You sure are." Kirche agrees, before getting up and moving seductively in front of him, placing her hands on his thighs as she bends herself to bring her seductive face close to his. "Want me to show you how much of an influence you're for me, darling?"

At that, the pitch-black Storyteller puts a finger just above her nose, confusing her for a moment as he draws the blue-haired girl's attention again as well, and pushes her lightly back and off him while winking at her. "I think you need to prove yourself a bit more first, miss horny."

She stays like that for a moment, and then sighs as she sits back down at her seat disappointed while looking outside of the window. "Of course I do..."

As the redhead remains like that for a moment, the Tome opens as the butler Alfred, from Batman, magically moves out of its pages with a tray of tea-filled cups, and with half his body remaining inside the said Tome, and begins offering a cup to each, starting with the Storyteller and ending with Kirche who notices just as soon before taking her cup and thanking the man, with him soon after submerging himself back inside the Tome again.

Kirche begins stirring with a spoon her tea, as the other two take a sip from theirs, till something comes in her mind.

"Say-" She begins as she looks at her blue-haired friend, drawing both hers and the Storyteller's attention. "Lately I learned that you're actually an exchange student. Just like me."

Aristidis puts a hand on his chin as he speculates in his mind how right he was about the fact Tabitha decided to keep her past a secret even from her close friend indeed, while also impressed she succeeded at that so far without issues.

The curious redhead continues. "It is already obvious where I hail from by just taking a look at me, but where do YOU come from, and how come you study abroad, Tabitha?"

"Actually-" The mouthless Storyteller intervenes with a face filled with interest as he draws their attention on him, wanting to help Tabitha keep her secret as it is for now. "Why don't you tell us about how you came to the decision to come and study at the academy of magic here, far away from home, Kirche? The subject has never been mentioned during our many talks, and I will lie if I say I am not curious."

Kirche that moment appears extremely elated at that as she tries to not exclaim about, while yelling on the inside about the fact her darling showing actual interest in learning about herself and her past.

She soon finds her composure back, as the blue-haired girl smiles at him for the cover he offered, and clears her throat to begin while smiling somewhat bitterly. "Well, I wouldn't say it was my original decision, really. You see, I was kicked out of the school I used to attend to."

That draws both the sure attention and interest of the two listening, with Aristidis taking a sip from his tea in the meantime.

Kirche continues. "I caused quite the trouble while there, and they eventually ran out of patience. My parents said I would ruin our family's reputation if I just hang around doing nothing, so I was almost forced into marriage."

She then leans forward at the two seemingly amused yet insulted. "To an old-old geezer no less! Can you believe it?"

"Wow." Aristidis begins with a sweat drop, obviously not quite liking what he just heard. "I mean yes, understandable to be expelled for causing trouble if it was beyond accepted standards, but being forced into marriage with someone you don't want to live your entire life with, is simply going too far."

"Right?!" The redhead responds with a yell, happy that he agrees with her, before taking a sip from her tea while relaxing herself again. "And because of that, my best choice was to attend for lessons somewhere else. But not too close to home."

She turns her sight outside of the carriage's window with a slight frustration obvious in her face. "If I shame them that much it's the least I could do, no? And that's the reason I chose the famous magic academy of Halkeginia. Far away enough from Germania, and without the feel of restriction and unfairness constantly above my head."

Both Aristidis and Tabitha look at her for a moment longer, feeling a bit bad for the redhead after hearing her story, and her bad relationship with her parents.

The Storyteller decides to speak. "S-"

"Storyteller, sir." The driver's sudden voice cuts off Aristidis who calls for him from the front, drawing the three passengers' attention.

The driver continues. "There is a man in the way who waves at us to stop. He looks like a farmer."

At that, the Storyteller moves his head out of the window as they keep on moving, and sees a bearded, somewhat obese man with simple farmer clothing, carrying a hoe over his shoulder as he keeps on waving at them while walking closer.

He looks at him for a moment, and then looks at the driver. "He appears genuine enough. Let us stop and see what he wants."

The carriage continues till it stops right beside the farmer as Aristidis and Kirche get closer to the window so they can listen to him appropriately, with the man being surprised upon seeing the former's mouthless/pitch-black appearance.

"Hello, anything you need from us, Mr?" The mouthless Storyteller asks the man.

The farmer snaps out of his surprise as he proceeds with the reason he stopped them about as he clears his throat awkwardly. "Excuse me- The Lagdorian Lake is flooded up ahead, so it's best to take a road higher up if you have to go past it, and if possible."

"Ah, I see." Aristidis says in understanding, and then with a pleased expression flips a golden coin with his thumb at the man, which he catches as he looks at it confused. "Thank you for going to the trouble of warning us, my good farmer. May your crops yield desirable results for you and your own."

After saying that, the carriage begins on moving once again forward, leaving behind the farmer, who was somewhat stunned by the strange-looking Noble's generosity.

Back inside the carriage now, Kirche appears to be thoughtful about what they just heard. "I wonder if there was a heavy rain."

"There was none." Aristidis says as he takes another sip from his tea, drawing the girls' attention, before beginning on explaining. "We are not far from the said lake from here, and it would have been already obvious enough if a heavy rain took place there by looking at the signs of great humidity and multiple water puddles around the area, which as you can see, and smell outside, are none-existent."

The redhead raises an eyebrow at him really confused. "What? If not for a rain, then how else can there be a flood?"

"The Water Spirit." Tabitha simply answers before taking another sip from her tea, causing Kirche's surprise.

"Correct." The pitch-black Storyteller tells her pleased with the answer as he places his tea cup to the side, before moving closer to her while bringing his now full of seduction face close to her ear. "A well of knowledge as always you are, my fair and greatly cute Tabitha."

The blue-haired girl blushes softly at his move as she averts her eyes the other way a bit awkward about.

Kirche in the meantime is obviously frustratingly jealous about it, before clearing her throat enough to gain their attention, as Aristidis straightens himself normally upon his seat again. "The Water Spirit you say?"

Aristidis nods. "Yes. According to some books I read back in the academy's library, the Lagdorian Lake is where the said spirit mainly resides. And taking into account that there was no rain, or even a nearby dam to break and release huge amounts of water upon the area to cause that kind of damage, it remains as the only possible culprit that has the power to do as much."

The redhead thinks about it, seeing how much of a point he has in the matter, but there is still one thing she doesn't quite understand. "But... Why would the Water Spirit cause the lake to flood?"

"Now that is a good question." The mouthless Storyteller says as he rubs with a hand his chin in contemplation. "Many ideas come to mind, but unless we can actually ask the spirit itself, I can't be sure of which is the right one."

He then breaks his train of thought while raising his hand and moving it in a dismissive manner. "I don't mind taking care of the issue at some point later if we have time, people will be grateful for it after all, but for now let us focus on our current destination I say."

Kirche puts both her hands together in front of her as she smiles lovingly at him, with Tabitha simply nodding at his idea. "You're always so mindful of the people around you, darling. I expected nothing less from you."

That makes Aristidis move his head upward as he feels very proud of himself.

In the meantime, the scene moves back at the academy of magic, where Louise is seen sitting at a table with the pink and round Kirby on a chair right next to her, before Siesta comes walking toward them with two trays filled with many different sweets.

When she places the said trays upon the table, one in front of Louise and the other before Kirby, the round pink being starts clapping both hands together in delight, before opening his actually big mouth wide, and sucks like a vacuum every single sweet from the tray, along with the tray itself, in front of him within it and munching them all together just as soon.

The black-haired maid sweat drops with a smile at that, while the pink-haired girl simply keeps on looking at him happily. "Seeing him doing that is still so surprising."

"I know, amazing, isn't it?" Louise rhetorically asks, believing as much herself. "I would really like to know the little one's story."

She then sweat drops, as Kirby finishes on munching his sweets. "Unfortunately he is apparently a child, and can't quite talk about his past like others. Still doesn't remove the fact that he is unbelievably cute!" Says the last part joyfully.

"True, true!" Siesta completely agrees, feeling the same way about it.

As they were admiring Kirby's cuteness, a butterfly is seen flying above the table while drawing the small pink round being's curious attention, before he decides to chase after it as he laughs about, making the girls look confused at him going at first, till they realize what he was after.

That makes them both feel even more giddy with Kirby's cuteness.

While he kept on doing that, Louise's smile falters as something comes to her mind, before turning her attention at Siesta, who was still admiring the round pink being.

After looking at her for some more, she blushes softly as she turns her now awkward attention seemingly back to Kirby again. "S-So... How it was?"

"Hm?" The maid utters as she turns to her, both unsure if that was directed to her, and what she meant exactly with that.

"With A-Aristidis I mean." The still blushing pink-haired girl somewhat elaborates.

Siesta tilts her head confused. "I don't understand. What exactly are you talking ab-"

"Your night together, damn it!" Louise ends up yelling at the maid as she turns to her, startling her for a moment, being frustrated and embarrassed that she has to say that much to begin with. "Don't force me to be more graphic about it!"

"Aah, that." The black-haired maid says as she finally understands what she is asking about.

At that, Siesta blushes while moving her sight upward as she places both her hands together in wonder. "It was the best experience of my life..."

The still blushing Louise sweat drops at what she considers as the maid's hyperbole, before beginning to wonder why she even goes to the trouble to ask her about such thing.

The black-haired maid then suddenly leans toward her while moving her now excited face close to hers, catching her off guard as she moves herself backward startled. "Are you asking to know what to expect for when you officially get together?"

The pink-haired girl blushes heavily as she takes a step back flustered at the very thought. "WHA- N-No! That's not it- I-I was just curious, nothing more- Truly!"

"Ee~h?" Siesta utters curiously as she looks at her with a somewhat mischievous smile, and then with a more normal smile moves once more closer. "You don't have to be so embarrassed about something like that, Louise."

She moves a bit closer. "Aristidis is a great, beautiful, and benevolent person who has already made it clear that he wants you as his."

The smiling maid moves even closer, making Louise feel more and more uncomfortable with her. "He will never think of your love as anything but special. You have to give him at least a chance to prove it. And trust me when I say he will."

"Wh-What has gotten into you with getting me and Aristidis together all of a sudden, Siesta?!" Louise asks her incredibly troubled, trying to make sense of the situation, before looking to the side really awkward about while trying to not lose her now fragile composure. "A-And I don't-"

"You don't like him, Louise?" Siesta interrupts as she asks her curiously while stepping back to straighten herself.

The still blushing pink-haired girl just looks at her for a moment, and then begins to nervously avert her eyes from place to place away from the maid. "I-I mean I like him, b-but not-"

"Then there is no reason to be so hesitant about it." The black-haired maid cuts her off with a smile, but then lifts and wags a finger in a serious manner. "And don't use the I'm already engaged with someone else on me. I have already been told that it's a lie."

(Damn you and your stupid mistrustfulness, Aristidis!) Louise curses frustrated on the inside. (And I bet that it's HE who told her to try and bring us together while he is away. That absurd, mischievous little...!)

While wishing for a way to end this flustering conversation, suddenly many loud girly exclamations are heard at the distance, drawing the two girls' attention as they notice a big number of girls having surrounded Kirby and hugging him like the crazy fangirls they apparently are for him, most likely due to seeing him at some point after Aristidis's departure.

Louise smiles awkwardly as she realizes the chance that occurred. "O-Oh no, look! Here they come again! I better go make sure they don't choke little Kirby with all that attention. I'm responsible for him till Aristidis comes back, after all."

Before Siesta can say anything else, the pink-haired girl was already running toward the crowd to deliberately waste much of her time there, till she is sure the maid will forget about bringing up the previous conversation again.

The maid sighs. "I wanted to help a bit Aristidis, knowing how much he wants her to be with him as well, but she is just so shy about it."

As things were like that back at the academy, the scene moves to where Aristidis's carriage currently was.

The trio looks outside of the windows as they pass by a half-flooded village, seeing how deep some of its buildings have been almost completely under the lake's water.

"We can safely say it is as we were told." The pitch-black says, and then turns his attention upon his open Tome. "Just imagine all the now ruined possessions that had to be abandoned."

"Truly awful." Kirche admits as she keeps on looking at the submerged buildings below, before looking at Tabitha. "Say, Tabitha, how much farther is your house?"

"Very close." She simply answers, and then taps with a finger Aristidis's Tome to draw his attention, before signing him to close it and prepare, which he decides to do so as he understands they are about to reach their destination.

As the carriage keeps on moving, something outside catches the redheads attention, which makes her move closer to check out a wooden sign, which appears to have what she recognizes as the crest of Gallia's Royal Family.

Kirche wonders about it for a moment, and then appearing somewhat shocked as a realization comes to mind, before turning to look at the blue-haired girl. "Tabitha, could it be that you're-"

"Part of the royal family of Gallia?" Aristidis a bit gleefully predicts her question, catching her off guard as he draws her attention. "That she is indeed, as surprising as that may sound, Kirche."

The redhead is in disbelief to learn both that her friend was a royal all this time, which increases her surprise upon seeing her nodding in confirmation, but also at the fact the pitch-black Storyteller learned about it before even she did.

She already has SO many questions, but she realizes that since none of the two say anything more about it yet to her, and knowing the two at least THAT well, she decides to not ask anything more for now

One thing for sure, that surprise he was talking about starts to seem like it's going to be a lot more different than what she expected to be.

Soon after that revelation, the carriage finally arrives at their destination as they see Tabitha's house, or rather her big mansion, with the crest of Gallia's royal family being seen right above the entrance.

The carriage stops, and the three exit from it before approaching together the entrance, where they see a middle-aged butler with small glasses and gray hair, and with a mustache, expecting them.

But as the man proceeds to bow before them, he stops as he is taken a bit aback from surprise as he finally takes notice of the mouthless pitch-black being with the cape among them.

Aristidis moves a dismissive hand in front of him amused. "I have that effect on everybody the first time. Don't worry, take your time."

For a slight second, an amused chuckle escapes Tabitha at that while moving her head to the side to hide it as she lightly covers her mouth, which surprises the butler even more, due to apparently knowing the blue-haired Noble enough to not expect that reaction from her.

The butler then remembers himself, and fakely coughs as he finds his composure again before bowing before Tabitha, like he intended to do so from the beginning. "Welcome home. We have been waiting for you. Miss Charlotte."

The blue-haired Noble nods in response to that, and then proceeds to enter the building after her butler.

Aristidis leans to the side close to the confused redhead to whisper. "Her real name."

Kirche turns surprised to him. "The other one was a fake?!"

"That is what I pretty much said, no?" He asks her with a raised eyebrow in a rhetorical and smartass manner, before following after Charlotte, with the redhead snapping out of her confusion soon enough to do the same.

Once inside, and taking a curious look around at the rich-looking interior of the mansion, they enter the sitting room, with Aristidis doing a pirouette till he sits down on the middle of the couch with a foot upon his other and the hands behind his now relaxing head, with everyone sweat dropping at his random flamboyant manner.

The butler turns and bows politely. "I will go prepare you some tea."

"Wouldn't mind for one more." The mouthless Storyteller says a bit pleased, as he makes the butler look at him surprised that someone mouthless expects/asks for a drink, and then pompously claps his hands twice. "Alfred, be a friend and help your fellow butler with everything needed."

"Of course, Storyteller, sir." Alfred Pennyworth says as he appears to be standing right next to the other butler now all of a sudden, which causes the mansion's butler to step quickly to the side startled upon noticing him, as he utterly confused looks back and forth around the room to understand where that man came from while he was not paying attention, till he sets his eyes at the completely unconcerned Charlotte.

"It's normal. Don't worry. Prepare the tea." She tells him as she moves from side to side a raised hand dismissively.

He stays like that with a cold sweat and a lot of questions in his mind for a moment, till he decides to focus on his task. "R-Right. Follow me this way, please." Says as he turns to Alfred while indicating with both hands the way to the kitchen, with him bowing politely in response.

As the two butlers leave the room, Kirche proceeds to sit next to Aristidis, while keeping on looking around the sitting room curiously, with Charlotte just standing there, looking at him.

The blue-haired girl then narrows her eyes a bit, before moving right in front of him. "The curing?"

"Eh?" The redhead utters confused as she looks back and forth at the two. "What curing?"

"It will happen-" Aristidis begins. "But we will have to wait till I am properly able to do as much."

As Charlotte wonders about why he says that, considering he barely used his power today so far, Kirche is at the end of her patience with everything she doesn't know. "Ok seriously, will anyone explain to me what is going on here?"

The pitch-black Storyteller looks at her for a moment, and then turns to the blue-haired girl. "No point on keeping your friend in the dark, don't you think so too?"

Charlotte looks downward to the side in response, unsure, but decides to nod in agreement.

"By the way, does your butler happen to know about your story?" Aristidis asks her next, which she simply nods again in response. "Good. Then we will wait till he is back, explain to our Kirche here about the issue, and then I will tell you about my helpful discovery and its downside."

The blue-haired girl raises an eyebrow at the last part, wondering about what downside he is talking about, while the redhead wonders about everything he just said in general.

Not long after, and after Charlotte has taken a seat next to her friend Kirche, her butler along with Alfred enter again the room with the former holding on one hand a tray with three tea cups, and the latter a tray with biscuits and three glasses of water, before they place them properly before each of the three Nobles.

The butler then was asked by the blue-haired girl herself to tell about her story, since she didn't have the courage to do it once more like before, much to the said butler's surprise of seeing his master wanting something she was keeping hidden for so long to be known.

Eventually, and after introducing himself as Percerin, he speaks of Charlotte's story, her father's death, her mother's sacrifice, and the trials the young lady had to go through till this point.

Needless to say, Kirche was feeling quite emotional about it, and gives her close friend a hug while trying to keep herself from shedding tears. "You went through so much pain..."

Charlotte keeps on looking downward, not wanting to show her sad face, but still appreciating the caring hug from her friend.

Percerin is still in some disbelief. "I still cannot believe that lady Charlotte would bring friends to her home, and even reveal to them her very past no less."

"It is always till the right people come into a person's life." Aristidis tells him, and then turns to Alfred. "Right am I not, friend?"

"Wise and very correct as always, sir." Batman's butler simply answers, which makes the Storyteller feel very proud of himself.

Percerin takes a better look at the pompous pitch-black and mouthless Noble, wanting to ensure the bizarre to him form is not just some sort of very well done disguise, but ends up accepting that the person before him is indeed as he looks, and with no clothing other than the luxurious cape as well for some reason. "Excuse me if I'm being rude, but what are y-"

"No labeling, call me Aristidis or Storyteller, I am made out of magic, can eat and drink because magic." The mouthless Storyteller cuts him off while explaining quickly with one finger raised at each fact at a time, leaving the mansion's butler trying hard to process the shocking to him information.

Kirche finally breaks the hug between her and her close friend, and turns to him. "You said something about a discovery before."

Then a realization strikes the redhead, and with much of enthusiasm brings both her hands together. "Could it be something that will help cure her mother?"

"Wh- You can cure the Duchess of her affliction?" Percerin asks him greatly shocked and in disbelief of the fact.

"Before I speak of any details-" Aristidis says before taking a sip from his cup, and then brings out from behind his back forward a certain small item, known as the Magic Lie Detector Bell from Konosuba. "I will first need to be assured of our friend here, so we don't end up with a the butler did it scenario."

The three look at each other confused as to what he talks about exactly as he places the object at the middle of the table.

He places the fingers of his two hands together while looking at the mansion's butler with a neutral yet grave-looking expression. "I will ask you a question, in which you will have to answer honestly with a yes or a no. No maybes, or answering through questions of yours allowed."

Percerin appears troubled due to the way the pitch-black Noble is suddenly looking at him.

"Alright-" Aristidis says as he pulls out from behind his head and in front of him with a hand a piece of paper, while with the other hand pulls a pair of glasses that he wears, and which make his irises appear ridiculously bigger through them. "First question. You work exclusively for Charlotte and her mother, and for no other person or group, correct?"

"Y-Yes." The mansion's butler answers.

Everyone else looks at the bell, seeing it emitting no sound.

"Next question." The mouthless Storyteller continues as he looks once more at his paper. "Would you support the wellbeing of the two because you believe they deserve as much and better?"

Percerin looks at him wide eyed for a moment, but sees how serious he is about the question, understanding that he expects an actual answer to that.

He looks at Aristidis with a sad expression. "My answer... Is yes. I spent almost my entire life serving under them, and I can tell you that the ladies of the house deserved far better than what was forced upon them. It always pained my heart seeing them both like that, and having no way to help them more than simply serving them."

The mouthless Storyteller's expression turns kind, with the two girls understanding the feeling as Alfred smiles for the same reason, as he removes his glasses. "Just like any proper family butler. Plus, the bell didn't ring, so..."

He snaps his fingers, with his glasses and the piece of paper vanishing from sight, much to Percerin's surprise at seeing for the first time magic vanishing objects. "I can talk about what I wanted freely."

Aristidis closes his eyes for a moment, and the black skin on his forehead tores open to reveal his Alpha Rune. "You girls remember the rune I received at the day I was summoned."

The two nod in response.

"Well-" He continues. "Apparently it is more than just a simple mark in the end. Last night I discovered it comes with an incredibly powerful ability."

Everyone utters surprised, while also wondering what ability is that exactly.

The pitch-black Storyteller continues as he now looks at them with much of glee. "And that ability gives me the power to summon any one thing or person from my Tome, without the cost of magic. In other words, I can call the most powerful being, weapon, and even nature's wrath, without any magic restrictions at all!"

That makes them gasp from shock as they understand, to some extent, everything he can summon much earlier than expected, while the mansion's butler is just now grasping in his mind the fact he can summon things and people out of nowhere.

Kirche smiles elated. "That's great! It means you can indeed heal her mother for sure!"

"Downside?" Charlotte asks him as she mentions the part he spoke of not long ago, earning the redhead's confused attention.

Aristidis folds his arms. "The downside to this, is that I can use it only once every twenty-four hours, according to a timer that appeared in my pages after I already used it." Says as he opens his Tome to look at that specific timer to its side.

After that, he brings his hand over his rune for a moment as he gets up, and covers it magically with a pitch-black skin layer like before. "I will be able to use it again somewhere around ten-o'clock during the night as I checked, so we will have to wait for when that time comes."

The blue-haired girl looks at him for a moment, and then turns her sight downward. "Mother... Will truly be cured?"

Aristidis looks at her with a kind expression, before approaching her and with a hand takes her own, drawing her attention, while he leans forward. "Never again will you enter that room, only to see a shadow of her former self. For she, the moment I do my magic, will hug you with the love and affection she used to show you so long ago."

Charlotte gets emotional at his words, remembering all the troubles, all the pain simply going away, with her mother finally coming back to her.

She smiles at him, happy that her greatest wish will finally be granted, while Kirche gets emotional at the scene before her as well as she holds with both hands a handkerchief in front of her mouth, for the same reason happy for her close friend, with Percerin in happy disbelief of the fact.

The pitch-black Storyteller continues. "Till then, I suggest you to stay and wait for when the big moment happens. Now-"

He suddenly pulls the hand he was holding her from, forcing her up and off the couch, confusing her, and spins her while moving fast to where she was once sitting, before letting her at the same time sit sidewardly onto his lap as he looks at her with a seductive expression. "How about taking a proper seat as I read you the romantic, yet quite funny, tale of a person, who's bribe is a mermaid."

The blue-haired girl blushes at both his move and the way he looks at her, before moving her head to the side out of awkwardness, and nodding a few seconds later at his suggestion, with him chuckling amused a bit at what he considers as her cute mannerism.

Upon seeing that, the redhead's emotion immediately changes to that of complete jealousy as she now bites and pulls the handkerchief with her teeth in irritation at her friend being allowed to get that kind of attention from Aristidis, when she herself does not.

Percerin in the meantime can only think of one thing as he wipes off with a handkerchief some of his sweat from the head upon seeing the whole scene. (Oh my...)

~Some Hours Later~During The Night~

The scene shows Aristidis, Charlotte, Kirche, Percerin and Alfred before the closed door leading into the room belonging to the mother of Charlotte.

It was finally time.

"Percerin, the door please." The Storyteller tells him, with the butler bowing before moving to open the door for them.

Once he opens it, they see the big bedroom, and just beside an open window that shows the darkened by the night greenery outside, they see sitting at a table a semi-malnourished woman with crazy-looking eyes, long, unkempt blue hair, wearing a simple white nightgown, and holding a small doll between her arms as she keeps on looking outside the said window.

"Look at the state of that poor woman." The Storyteller says while shaking his head in disapproval, drawing her attention, before he starts walking forward with a more serious expression. "You stay back as I take care of this."

As she watches him slowly approaching, the maddened woman holds alarmed the doll closer into her now tightened hug. "You're from the palace, aren't you? Here to take my daughter away."

Aristidis stops at a somewhat short distance from her, and brings his Tome up while opening it at a specific page.

"Over my dead body!" The maddened mother screams as she quickly grabs a fork beside a plate upon her table, and throws it at him, resulting in the fork stabbing him at the middle of the forehead, making the rest gasp from shock.

The pitch-black Storyteller looks up at the fork stuck in his forehead with mild discomfort, while a black liquid substance is seen moving slowly out of the injury and across his face like blood. "Ok, OUCH."

After saying that, Charlotte and Kirche worried move fast right next to him, with the madwoman looking the other way while rubbing the doll on her face as she whispers something to it.

"Darling, are you ok?!" The redhead asks concerned as she brings her hands toward the fork in his forehead, but hesitating to touch it as to not make the case worse by accident.

"Worry not, worry not-" Aristidis tells them as he grabs somewhat annoyed the fork, and plucks it off his injury without issue, with the wound healing on its own soon after. "Not the first time I get stabbed in the face. Or anywhere else as a matter of fact. Quite the throw she has for her current state of mind."

As Kirche watches amazed at how he can even heal himself like it's nothing special, the blue-haired girl takes the fork off his hand, looks carefully at the black substance still around its metal three-tipped head, and out of curiosity brings it close to her nose to smell it, drawing attention to her.

After doing that, she appears somewhat surprised. "Ink."

"Eh- Ink?" The redhead questions confused.

"Yes, my blood is ink." Aristidis admits, and then raises an eyebrow. "Didn't I tell you?"

He looks back and forth at the two, who simply look at him, in their own levels of surprise, and realizes they had indeed no knowledge of that fact. "No? It was probably not special enough for me to mention at the time." Says as he shrugs it off as unimportant.

"Anyway-" Aristidis says as he raises his Tome to look at the page again.

"Say, who you will call exactly to take care of a case like this?" Kirche asks him, as Charlotte gives the fork to Percerin.

The pitch-black Storyteller begins. "Well, after seeing how I am capable of summoning absolutely anything with the help of my Alpha Rune, I was thinking, what is the most assured but outrageously absurd way to do this? And then HE came to mind."

After saying that, the skin covering his Alpha rune retreats and reveals it, before it starts emitting a powerful glow forward, which in a matter of a few seconds of an awe-inspiring spectacle, a silhouette bathed in light begins to take form before them, till it fully shapes to reveal an armchair, and a large man with blue like the sky skin seated on it, with a big chin, slim beard, short ponytail, and who is only wearing golden bracelets on his wrists, a golden round earring on his right ear, and a red cloth between the lower part of the belly and what appears to be a seemingly smoke-like tail for legs. [Genie from Disney's Aladdin, connected with his lamp and caught somehow in the middle of something.]

The blue-man appears to be in the middle of a conversation, while not aware of the ones behind him. "And then I tell him-"

"Genie, my good friend!" Aristidis cuts him off with a happy expression, as the rest wonder what the blue man before them is, with a very known lamp now obvious in his hand as he holds the Tome under the arm.

"Um, actually I told him-" Genie begins as he turns to look at him, till he stops as he notices the hand-waving Storyteller and the others, before turning back at where he was looking at to notice the fact he is no longer wherever, and with whatever company, he was.

He then gets up, with his armchair popping out of existence, and with open arms happily approaches Aristidis. "Storyteller! Aristara!"

That moment the blue-man turns into a blue version of Will Smith while placing an arm around the pitch-black Storyteller's shoulders. "My Brotha!"

After that he unhands him quickly as he moves back while reforming into his previous self, but now wears pirate clothing and waves a sword around excitedly. "The ARR in my pirate!"

Genie's pirate clothes then vanish as he places his elbow in a casual manner upon Aristidis's shoulder. "How have you been-"

He stops himself as soon as he notices his old lamp in his hand, before moving his arm back to take a look at his golden bracelets and around himself. "Ehh, why am I-"

"Because I am going to need your overpowered trait if I want this to be assured." The Storyteller interrupts him while placing a hand on his shoulder.

He then looks back at the curious girls, and Percerin, and with a happy face points with the lamp he holds at Genie. "Allow me to introduce you to Genie, also known mostly in the past as the Genie Of The Lamp. One of the best friends you can have."

"Nice to meet you, people!" The jolly blue-man tells them with a wave of his hand, which Kirche somewhat awkwardly responds to in the same way.

"In what way?" Charlotte asks Aristidis, wanting to know the way he will help her mother.

"Simple." He begins. "See, in the story he comes from, while he was still connected to the magic lamp, he was capable of granting up to three wishes to the person being in possession of the said lamp."

Everyone is surprised to learn that, with the redhead exclaiming in that surprise of hers.

Kirche smiles really excited. "Any three wishes one may want?!"

Genie suddenly pops out of nowhere through a sparkling cloud right behind her with his hands enthusiastically raised, startling her. "Anything!"

He then shrugs. "You know, as long as they don't go against the rules."

Aristidis raises three fingers, which he pulls down during the following explanation. "His rules are: No killing, no love manipulation, and no resurrecting the dead. Other than those, anything else is allowed."

"Don't forget about only one wish every such summon nowadays, due to Tome limitations and all, and me having to go back inside once granted." Genie points out while coming from the side to put an arm around his shoulders.

The mouthless Storyteller puts a hand on his chin as he remembers. "Oh right, there is also that. Still more than enough." Says as he shrugs.

Charlotte looks at her crazed mother, who is still cuddling the doll in her hands, being in slight disbelief. "Will a wish really...?"

"You tell me." Aristidis tells her, before turning with a serious expression toward the Genie while pointing at the madwoman. "Genie, the woman over there years ago drank a potion that caused her mind to be filled with madness and delusions, unable to recognize people or function in her everyday life properly. I wish for the potion that caused her to turn out like this to be removed from her system, so its problematic effects can vanish, returning her mind as a result back to its original healthy state before the said potion was even consumed."

In response to that, Genie manifests a doctor's white coat and pink plastic gloves on himself, while pulling one of them down to adjust it better as he smiles about. "Right away! Doctor is at home, so here we go!"

Right after saying that, he points both his palms at the woman, which surrounds her head for a second in a green glow, before the said glow dissipates, with the woman that moment stopping on what she was doing as she straightens her posture, and appearing rather confused before looking back and forth at the side with the window, still not having noticed the people by the entrance and room's middle.

With that done, the blue-man turns toward the others, gives them a thumbs up, and vanishes into sparkles, along with the magic lamp Aristidis was holding, with them then looking at the woman carefully.

Her mother, with her soft-green eyes as well now back to normality, continues to look around confused, as she is about to turn toward the way everyone is. "Where-"

"Hello there!" Aristidis suddenly moves in front of her as he interrupts her with a joyful expression, with her moving herself a bit back on her seat startled because of it. "You are cured!"

He then brings his hand behind her back, with it starting to emit a yellowish glowing pulse which makes her entire body glow softly with its light, causing her to look back at it confused. "Just give me a moment to transfer some necessary energy into you so we can remove all weaknesses from the semi-malnourished body..."

As he says that, her body appears to lose much of its previous malnutrition, with the pitch-black Storyteller stopping it after a moment. "And now you may go hug your daughter. Come on." Says as he pats her twice in a friendly manner at the back with the same hand as he points with the other at the full of disbelief Charlotte.

The mother's eyes widen with emotion upon looking at her now grown daughter as she gets up slowly. "Charlotte...?"

The blue-haired girl's eyes tremble with overwhelming emotion, as she realizes that her mother was back to her senses after all these years.

"Mother!" She yells while rushing toward her as tears fall uncontrollably from her eyes, before falling straight into her mother's prepared, and also greatly emotionally moved, embrace, with the former crying as the latter weeps, expressing both their pain and happiness, while their legs also get weak enough for both to kneel down due to the moment but without ceasing on embracing each other.

Aristidis in the meantime moves beside the quite moved emotionally as well Kirche, who has both hands over her mouth, while using a handkerchief with a hand to wipe the few tears that formed there as he keeps on looking at the official reunion. "Such a precious moment to witness."

The redhead nods in response while still feeling emotional at the scene and all, with Percerin being moved as well while keeping his composure near-intact as he feels happy for the two, and with Alfred simply nodding with a smile.

The mouthless Storyteller then puts a hand upon Kirche's shoulder as he turns his body toward the door, getting her attention. "They have a lot to converse about. Let us leave them on their own for today."

He unhands her, and together they begin walking toward the door, with the two butlers following. "And I don't know about you, but I certainly deserve to go straight to bed and relax from all that emotion I went through."

The redhead wraps her arms around one of his own lovingly. "I could help you with that, if you know what I mean."

"I know." Aristidis tells her, and then moves his arm off her hold. "And no."

Kirche lowers her head defeated as they eventually walk out of the room.

Next exits Alfred, with Percerin passing through as well as he is about to close the door behind him, only to stop as he takes one last look at the still hugging mother and daughter.

He smiles happily. "Welcome back, my lady." He whispers before closing the door, leaving the two on their own.

A few hours pass, and the scene moves within a room where the Storyteller is seen lying upon the large bed there, relaxing with a leg above the other, and with two fingers at the side of his head, obviously indicating that he speaks to someone telepathically.

{(And that's how our day went.)} Aristidis says, showing that he already explained his news to the person he communicates with while off screen.

{(To think they would do something like that to their own... Charlotte and her mother are very fortunate to have you as friend, Aristidis.)} Louise tells him while feeling glad at the fact, which reveals her as the person he was talking with from the apparent distance, and with the scene changing from Aristidis's current room to Louise's, depending on who is talking. She is also using one of the Playing Card Soldiers as a way of their telepathic communication.

{(You said it, dear.)} The pitch-black Storyteller says as he feels rather satisfied and proud with himself. {(So, how about your day? Had fun with Kirby and Siesta? Also, was your training session satisfying?)}

{(Well, my day was great.)} She begins with a smile. {(We played, we ate ice cream provided by that Germanian-looking man with the unique freezing magic and weird clothes, and I got to use lots of amazing new spells from my magic book like you told me to. The variety is incredible!)} Says very pleased.

Aristidis's expression turns real happy. {(Glad to hear you have a wonderful time!)}

Louise then appears quite surprised. {(But then something shocking happened during training. As I was casting quite a powerful spell, Kirby suddenly decided to jump in the way of it like the joyful cute ball he is, scaring me to death at the thought of hurting him badly, only for him to open his mouth wide and gulp it, before turning and spitting it out straight at the training dummy like a bright ball-like projectile! It was so shocking seeing him do that... Kirby is not just a simple lovable being, is he?)} She ends up asking him with a sweat drop as she looks at the sleeping pink-ball at her bed.

The mouthless Storyteller chuckles amused for a moment. {(No, he is not. Well I mean, lovable, yes. Simple, definitely not. I will explain his story to you once back, so don't tire your thoughts too much with it. Anyway, any other news to tell me about?)}

The pink-haired girl thinks for a moment. {(Well other than that, by the time our classes ended today, many of the students had already left for the summer vacation. There should be no students remaining here now. The place will be quite empty for some time.)}

{(I see.)} He says, before his face turns kind. {(After I take care of one more situation the next day here, nothing that difficult I assure you, I will make sure to come back to you as soon as possible.)}

She seems very happy with that. {(That's great, you're always so-)}

{(My lovely maiden.)} Aristidis interrupts her with a seductive but mischievous manner.

{(I take it back, you're as unbearable as always, and I hope your return is slow!)} The flustered Louise tells him angrily, before abruptly ending communication.

He laughs amused as he lowers the hand from his head. "Always such a cute outburst of a reaction when shy. Can't help but want to tease the poor girl, just to see that side of hers more." Says the last part while placing the same hand at his cheek in delight.

That moment, the door to his room slowly opening draws his attention.

Once fully open, he sees Charlotte, whose body from the shoulders till the feet are covered entirely by a blanket she holds in place.

"Ah, dear Charlotte." He says happily, while she closes the door behind her, before leaving the Tome to the side and places the fingers of both his hands together as he looks at her. "Tell me, how has it been. Had a nice catching up with your mother?"

"Yes." She simply answers with a nod as she approaches and stop at the end of the bed.

"Glad to hear, glad to hear." Aristidis says as he nods satisfied.

After that, there was silence for a few seconds, both simply looking at each other, with the blue-haired girl appearing slightly blushing and awkward for a bit as she somewhat turns her head away from him.

The pitch-black Storyteller decides to break the silence. "So, what is it that brings you here in my temporary room so late in the night?"

Charlotte stays as she is for a moment longer, till she finally finds her courage, by lightly inhaling and exhaling, and looking at him again. "You have given me back what was denied from me for many years."

She lowers the blanket enough to show her bare shoulders. "So I have decided... The only way to thank you... Is give to you as much as you did."

After saying that, the blue-haired girl lets the blanket to fully fall down upon the floor, revealing her completely naked and undeveloped body, while blushing a bit more because of it. "My everything."

"Ho~?" Aristidis utters with much of interest and with a hand upon his chin as he looks at her. "Does this also mean you have made the decision to become part of my harem officially? I want that, sure, but are you sure that's what YOU want as well?"

She nods. "There is no one I would like to be with right now, other than you."

His expression turns seductive as he open his arms wide and letting them both to rest above at each of the two pillows. "Then you may approach, my charming blueberry."

A small chuckle escapes Charlotte that moment, amused with how silly that sounded, and then climbs at the bed, moving toward him with her hands and knees slowly, the blush never leaving her face.

Once close, she begins climbing onto him, till she is right above him, her face now in front of his.

He looks at her with his seductive expression, and she looks at him with a smile.

And then, she moves closer, and kisses him at the mouthless area as she wraps her arms around his neck, keeping it up for a few seconds.

Then, the door opens suddenly, drawing their surprised attention, seeing Kirche being the reason for that, who is dressed in a simple nightgown, that was given to her most likely by the house.

"No! I can't accept that!" The redhead yells frustrated with the head high and her fists close to her chest.

She then moves fast close to the bed's end, as Charlotte a bit troubled moves off Aristidis to covers herself below the blanket next to him, and falls on her knees while placing both hands at the said end of the bed. "Darling, you have accepted Louise, even if she still plays it hard to get, you have accepted that maid Siesta, you have accepted Tabi- Charlotte!" She corrects herself at the end there, not quite used to her actual name.

She continues in her desperation. "And yet I'm still not accepted in your harem as well? That's just not fair! I have been at my best behavior, I have rejected every guy that wanted a relationship with me, and I have been more devoted to you than all of Halkeginia is to the Founder himself." Says as she counts her fingers.

Kirche then reaches for one of her pockets, and with a smile brings fast before her the Magic Lie Detector from before. "I even brought that truth bell-thingy to prove it. See? No ringing during everything I said so far. That means I'm telling the truth and only the truth!"

That causes the Storyteller's interest as he brings a hand at his chin, with Charlotte looking at him curious as to what he will decide to do.

The redhead places the said bell down, and then brings both hands together before her in a very pleading manner. "Oh please, my gorgeous and glorious Aristidis, give me a chance. Just one. It is all I ask."

Aristidis thinks about it for a moment as he looks into her pleading eyes and posture, and makes his decision while lowering the hand from his chin. "Very well. Even I should admit you deserve as much at this point. Better not betray that trust of mine now." Says somewhat seriously with a downwardly wagging finger.

At the sound of that, Kirche's smile grows more than it ever grew before, as she realizes she was finally accepted by him after so long.

"Da~rLI~n-" The redhead begins in her great excitement while at the same time attempting to jump straight at him, only to be stopped halfway in mid-air by a magical force that outlines her body in a soft-blue glow as she wonders what happened, till she notices the pitch-black Storyteller having his hand raised toward her, indicating HE is the reason for her sudden stop.

"Now, now-" He begins with the same seriousness like before. "Let us not be hasty. Before anything can begin, you will have to go through a thorough healthcare procedure. Not that I am afraid you will infect me with anything, I am immune to such things after all, but taking into account your past interactions, you ARE going to need as much for your own good. Also because I want you at your best."

After saying that, he reaches and opens his Tome with his free hand at a specific page, and begins moving telekinetically Kirche toward it. "For that, I am sending you into a place it is sure to provide you with everything needed. Press this button once done to pull you out." Says as he pushes into her hands a small black cube with a red button on it, much to her confusion.

"See you after that." Aristidis tells her with a happy face, before the redhead magically enters fully within the Tome's page.

Upon witnessing all that, Charlotte looks at him. "Where you sent her?"

The pitch-black Storyteller turns to her. "It is a brief but specific part of a story that was visited via multiversal traveling by a certain duo, which takes place in an era where their society became advanced far earlier due to religion being nonexistent, giving the people the chance to avoid many of the historical troubles that originally would occur because of it. The story is called Family Guy, which mostly consists of varied comedy and parody, and is not to be taken too seriously overall."

The blue-haired girl raises an eyebrow at that.

"Worry not, my dear, unlike the original, the part she was sent to is actually to be trusted, so she will be more than fine." He reassures her. "Kirche will be finished and back before you even say-"

Aristidis snaps his head that moment a bit upward as if in reaction to something, and with a pleased expression snaps his fingers, which causes the redhead to magically jump out of the Tome and in front of the bed's end, somewhat startling Charlotte. "See what I mean?"

"That was such a surreal place to visit." Kirche says quietly to herself as she looks around her in wonder.

"So-" The mouthless Storyteller begins, drawing her attention. "Tell me, how was your little visit there?"

The redhead smiles with amazement. "It was incredible. Almost everyone was flying with those fire-breathing contraptions in their backs, and there were those peculiar buildings, and more weird contraptions-"

"Healthcare?" Charlotte interrupts with her question, wanting to know how her friend's healthcare procedure went, being a bit concerned about her well-being.

"Oh, that." Kirche remembers, before beginning to recall about it. "Well, all they did was to give me some small pills to gulp, tell me I was ready to go, and nothing more."

"And how you feel?" Aristidis asks with much of glee.

"I feel... Light." The redhead explains as she looks around her hands and body slowly and in wonder. "It's as if... A burden I was not aware of, vanished in but a moment. I don't know how to describe it- It is such a blissful feeling!" She eventually yells at the end with much of joy while spinning once in place and giggling for a moment.

Charlotte appears impressed at learning of a kind of medicine that can heal so fast, so simply, and without any side effects. That Tome and its stories earn more and more value the more she learns from.

"Good." The pitch-black Storyteller says pleased, and then his expression turns seductive as he puts a leg above the other. "Now how about you come here and show me how much you... Appreciate me for the gorgeous and glorious person you say I am?"

Kirche immediately gets over-excited as she begins to undress herself fast, and stumbling a bit in place as she hastily attempts to do so.

He turns and moves his head close to the blue-haired girl to whisper. "I can understand you expected/wanted this to be a special night for just the two of us. If you want I can tell her to come later, if you have an issue with doing the same activity together.

Charlotte thinks about it for a moment, but then shakes her head. "No issue. This is your harem. Can't be possessive."

At hearing that, Aristidis happily and seductively puts an arm around her shoulder and brings her close enough for his cheek to rub against her head, making her blush a bit more. "Just for showing to be so open minded about it, I will make sure to pay extra attention to you. Dear Charlotte."

The blue-haired girl averts her eyes from him, feeling quite awkward at his words and mannerism toward her.

In the meantime, Kirche finally removes the last piece of clothing from her as she throws it away, and then turns to him with a smile and a blush on her cheeks. "Sorry for the delay. Hope you're looking forward to this as much as I do, my darling."

"Come here, and see how much for yourself." He tells her while signing her with a finger to approach, the seductive expression never leaving his face, before the redhead begins approaching with giggling excitement.

And thus began a night for the three of them to enjoy, and remember.

~The Next Morning~

The scene shows the clear blue sky outside of the mansion, before moving within the dining room, where we see Aristidis and Kirche seated together at the table, with the latter clinging onto his arm with her two own while resting her head lovingly at the side of his shoulder as the former reads from his Tome while slowly caressing with his free hand her hair, and the butlers Percerin and Alfred coming from the kitchen with trays of tea and cake which they place upon the said table.

"Last night was wonderful, Aristidis." The redhead says as she dreamily remembers the known night they spent together.

"As much for me as it was for you, dearie." The pitch-black Storyteller tells her kindly, and then looks at Charlotte's butler. "They are coming soon? It will be a shame if they get late and find their tea cold. Unless they prefer them better cold, which will make me wonder how much they will enjoy a very well known iced-tea brand I know of." Says as he puts a hand on his chin in contemplation.

"Miss Charlotte and the lady of the house should be finishing getting ready soon." Percerin answers the question, while appearing rather confused at the iced-tea part, wondering who would even accept his tea THAT cold.

As soon as he finished saying that, the door opens, drawing everyone's attention, with Charlotte, who simply wears the academy's school uniform like usual, and her mother entering.

In comparison to the last day, the woman's blue hair was properly combed, and she was wearing a regal dress of blue and light-blue, the darker coloration covering mostly the said dress, not mentioning that her skin was now clean of any signs of malnutrition she once had, as a bright smile is shown in her face, which makes Kirche to question in her mind how different she looks from before the cure, while also commending her beauty despite the woman's mature age.

"Good morning, everyone." She greets with a smile, while being slightly awkward for some reason. "I truly hope we did not make you wait for us for too long. It has been quite some time since the last time I actually took care of myself, or have someone do it for me to be more precise, and I feel a little bad for having my dear daughter help me with that."

"Nothing to worry about at all, my good lady." Aristidis tells her as he gets up, and with a kind expression approaches the said lady, before grabbing both her hands as he moves them up and down a few times casually, much to her confusion. "Simply another reason to spend more quality time with your daughter after so long. Personally, I believe it to be a true bliss."

The Duchess is moved emotionally by the pitch-black Storyteller's kind words, and then shows a normal smile as she remembers what he did for her, with him letting her hands free almost as soon. "Wouldn't be possible without you helping in the way you did. I cannot thank you enough for healing my shattered mind." Says at the end with a respectful bow.

The pitch-black Storyteller was about to say something at that, only to be interrupted by a sudden tight hug to the front by Charlotte.

He looks down at her, and how she remains with the side of her head placed upon his chest, understanding that is her showing once more how thankful she is for the help he has given them, before he fondly puts a hand upon her head, which makes the rest smile heartwarmingly.

The mother giggles happily for a moment while looking at the two. "It seems Charlotte has taken quite the liking to you indeed, Aristidis. Some moments after I woke up, she wouldn't stop talking about you."

Charlotte at that turns and buries her head onto his chest enough to not show her blushing from embarrassment face, causing everyone else's slight amusement.

The Duchess bows once more toward the pitch-black Storyteller. "I'm glad that my daughter has found a great man like you, and I wish you will always be together."

Aristidis looks at the woman a bit surprised after hearing that. "I am rather surprised to see a woman, of your status no less, accepting your daughter being part of a harem like mine, without taking offense to such a choice at all."

The mother sweat drops and smiles a bit awkwardly, as the blue-haired girl turns to look at her as well. "Well, at first I was honestly skeptical about it, but after she told me everything about you, and showing me how attracted she is to you, not to mention taking into consideration that you literally gave me back my life, I couldn't just forbid that wish of hers, even if it's something as unorthodox as this."

She then smiles kindly. "Her happiness is more important to me than anything else in the world."

Charlotte smiles, happy that her mother fully supports her decision after the talk they had.

The Duchess then sweat drops. "Though, I still find hard to believe the magic you possess, the Tome and its unbelievable yet true stories, and your mouthless, pitch-black, naked appearance. Without wanting to offend, of course."

"No offense taken, everyone thinks so the first time they meet me as well." Aristidis reassures her with a kind expression.

The pitch-black Storyteller then begins looking at the mother's body and especially the face a bit more carefully, which causes everyone to wonder about the reason he does so all of a sudden, and then his expression turns seductive. "You know, Charlotte, now that I take a better look at your mother after her Genie Therapy Session, I must admit she is quite the charming lady."

The Duchess smiles appreciatively at the compliment. "Oh, that's very courteous of you."

Aristidis unhands Charlotte, and moves close enough to the woman to take her hand and bring it close to his mouthless area. "Always toward fair ladies such as yourself."

The blue-haired girl looks at him for a moment longer, and then her eyes widen in realization to what he is trying to do, and narrowing a bit her eyes soon after in offense. "No."

"Eh?" The pitch-black Storyteller utters confused as he turns to her while unhanding the mother, with everyone else confused as to what is this about.

Charlotte moves right in front of him, her serious expression remaining as it is, causing him to take a step back a bit troubled. "No."

Aristidis sweat drops as he realizes the reason behind her behavior toward him. "But, my dear Charlotte-"

"No." She interrupts him, wanting to hear no excuse about this of all things.

The pitch-black Storyteller now appears to adopt a more friendly yet still trouble stance before her. "C-Come now, is it really as wrong as you make it-"

"N. O." The blue-haired Noble interrupts him one more time by spelling the word slowly for him, being even more serious about it than before.

"Ow ok, I will respect that." He says somewhat fast while turning to the side as he looks down in defeat and tapping two fingers together in front of him in an awkward manner, not wanting to push this further.

In the meantime, her mother, and everyone else, is still seriously confused about what he even did to make Charlotte be mad at him like that to begin with. "Charlotte, why-"

"Nothing important." Charlotte interrupts her mother fast as she turns to her with the usual stoic expression now.

The Duchess sweat drops while not all that convinced. "Bu-"

"Nothing important." The blue-haired daughter cuts off her mother once more in the same way, really not wanting her to learn about the fact Aristidis attempted to seduce her not long ago.

There are a lot of things she doesn't mind, but him even thinking of making her mother part of the harem, is not one of them.

"Geez, so cold against me, dear." Aristidis seemingly complains to her calmly with his arms folded, and then turns his attention toward the table. "Even our tea turned cold just to match the said feeling."

Everyone looks at the tea cups, only to notice they were nowhere to be found, and in their place now being empty drinking glasses along with bottles of Lipton Ice Tea, much to their surprise.

The mansion's butler looks for a moment longer at the bottles that were once the cups he served tea not long ago, and then places a hand upon his sweaty forehead in disbelief. "I... Think I need some fresh air. Excuse me." Says as he exits the room, thinking that his mind is playing tricks on him.

The pitch-black Storyteller chuckles amused a bit at that, making obvious that he was just joking with the whole complaining about thing, before turning with a happy expression and a respectful bow toward the two blue-haired ladies while indicating with a sideward palm the seats next to him. "The ladies of the house may take their seats, and I hope you enjoy the new brand as much as our company."

Charlotte moves to sit at one of the said chairs, while her mother just stands there for a moment longer, trying to understand when and how he changed the tea cups like that, till she decides to move and sit upon the other chair, looking somewhat curiously at the bottle with the apparently cold tea.

As Aristidis sits down at his own chair like before, Alfred begins filling everyone's glasses using the ice tea bottles, with them trying only to be surprised by what an unexpectedly nice flavor it has, despite the tea's unorthodox to them coldness.

After that, for a few moments they simply enjoy their ice tea and cake, while having a friendly and casual chat.

"Get those hot buns in here, girl he then says, only for the scene to show the said girl carrying actual hot buns inside a basket as she enters." Aristidis explains the part of a story he decided to tell them, and being quite amused about it. "That tidbit alone was just SO hard to not laugh at!" Says right before he laughs as he remembers it.

Kirche and the Duchess laugh as well, sharing his amusement, with Charlotte simply chuckling quietly for the same reason.

"That is indeed funny." The blue-haired mother admits as she brings her laugh to a stop, along with the rest.

"Quite the entertaining and funny show to watch/read indeed, till you reach its more serious side that is." He says at the end a bit more quietly and seriously, and then looks at the Duchess. "And speaking about serious, tell me, now that your good health and reasoning is back, from here on what are your plans?"

The Duchess appears thoughtful about it for a moment as she looks down in repressed frustration, before looking at her daughter silently for almost as long. "I was denied from my daughter for far longer than acceptable. And all that so a venomous snake can sit upon a throne that was never rightfully his. I don't want her to go through the same pain again."

"Mother..." Charlotte trails off, moved emotionally by her mother's love.

The blue-haired mother then turns to the Storyteller with a serious expression. "It's best if everyone thinks I'm still in the broken state they believe me to still be today, so they don't try anything more than what they have already done, while I wait and hope for when Joseph will be gone for good, in order for my Charlotte to assume the throne as the true ruler of Gallia like she was meant to from the very beginning."

The trio looks at her with different feelings each.

Kirche being surprised after being reminded that her close friend would indeed be a queen today if it was not for that Joseph character, Charlotte being somewhat indifferent about, as she doesn't really care about it while at the same time not planning on refusing her mother's wish in the matter, and with Aristidis simply nodding with interest and understanding at her choice.

The redhead that moment straightens her head for a moment in reaction, as an idea comes to her mind before turning with a somewhat excited smile toward the pitch-black Storyteller. "Wait, what if Aristidis gets rid of that Joseph for you? With your power, it should be more than easy, right, darling?"

Both the blue-haired ladies turn fast at him, only for him to shake his head.

"As much as I would like to give my valuable help in the matter, there are two reasons why it is currently not a good idea to do so." The pitch-black Storyteller tells them, before lifting one finger after the second, the moment he explains his reasons. "The first and most serious reason, is because even with the power I have gathered so far, I still risk on getting unwanted attention upon me, resulting most likely in retaliation from who knows how many sources that will feel threatened, resulting in endangering you all in a level most likely far beyond what I can handle. And even though I could certainly summon assassins good enough for a clean job well done, it is still not worth the risk right now. Now the second reason is the fact that I don't want to end up responsible for any diplomatic episode. And considering the fact we are mostly staying in Tristain, that move can and will easily be treated as an act of war between the two countries, while also earning us the Tristain's wrath for being the ones, but mostly me, responsible for the said war, and I don't think you want any negative reputation because of it."

The trio looks at each other, realizing how risky the idea for those reasons indeed is.

"It is best for now to simply sit back, enjoy everything that is provided by yours truly, which is more than what any ruler can receive right now by the way, and nothing more for now." He continues as he says that part with a hand on his chest and kindness mixed with much of pride, and then brings his expression back to neutral as he lowers the said hand to his ice tea glass. "And in case that Gallian king decides to be an inconvenience toward us in the end anyway, I will see how I feel about it when it comes to it, and decide how to deal with the situation appropriately. You know, give him a chance instead of being the first one to act, without him doing any wrong moves for me to have an obvious enough actual reason to do as much. Show to the people who might be present at the said moment that I am the defensive, fair one, and not the aggressor." Says before taking a sip from his glass.

Kirche, Charlotte and her mother find Aristidis's reasoning more than sound, even if the latter doesn't like the thought that Joseph's judgment will have to wait.

There is an awkward silence for a few more seconds after that, till the redhead decides with an awkward smile to break it. "S-So, I remember the last night about your Tome and the wish limitation that Genie fellow spoke about, which was frankly quite surprising to learn. Are there more such limitations, or..."

"Oh, that." The mouthless Storyteller remembers, and then pulls from below the table a small blackboard and a piece of chalk, before he proceeds to write on it. "There are three more, which I call Tome Rules, that have been placed by Kremant, and which cannot be broken no matter what."

He turns the blackboard for the rest to look at the three listed rules. "Rule number one: I am not allowed to bring anyone back to life. And even if I use characters or items that in their stories can do that, it will not work. Raising them as undead is allowed, but attempting to heal the said undead in such a way that would pretty much fix the body enough for them to count as alive, will also not work."

"That's... Such a shame actually." Kirche says somewhat bummed about it. "You would make so many people happy if you could do just that, darling. Like bringing back Charlotte's father for example."

When hearing about it, the Duchess lowers her head saddened due to being reminded about her husband's unfair fate.

The redhead takes notice of the now sad lady, while Charlotte hugs her mother in an attempt to calm her down, and is incredibly troubled about it. "Ah- I am so sorry, I didn't mean to bring back a bad memory!"

"It's ok." The blue-haired lady tells her, and then moves her head to the side. "I know you didn't mean to make me sad. It's just that remembering about it never ceases to hurt, no matter how many years pass."

Aristidis, and the rest, feels bad seeing her like that, and bows his head apologetically. "I am sorry that I cannot help you with this."

She smiles bitterly at him. "Don't apologize. At the very least it makes me happy to know that you would do so if you were allowed to. Please, don't mind me and continue with what you were telling us."

"Very well." The pitch-black Storyteller says with an understanding nod, before going back to explaining the next rule upon the blackboard. "Rule number two: I am not allowed to have any kind of sexual relations with anyone or anything from the Tome. I can watch the people within do as much themselves, I can do things to my self by myself, but nothing more with them than that when it comes to such activities."

Everyone just looks at him with wide open eyes of surprise, in disbelief of what they have just heard, even the Duchess herself, learning about his character from her daughter.

"Tell me you're joking with that." Kirche asks him, unable to believe him at that, for the same reason.

"Trust me, I would not make such an absurd joke without ending up laughing halfway while attempting to say it." He honestly and slightly irritated tells them. "Imagine being able to have every female to ever exist, or men in your case, favorite and not, but not being allowed to have that extremely desired way with them. It is like a harsh kick to your most sensitive area, with the said kick having multiple small, long nails on it."

The three cringe greatly at the gruesome image he gave them.

"Apologies, but it is how it feels to me." Aristidis says, and then places the blackboard down at the table as he proceeds to fold his arms while turning his head annoyed to the side. "Seriously, I can understand the other rules, but not allowing me to have my way with the intriguing ladies within is just... I mean, why Kremant even do that?"

"Now, be honest with me here, champ." The grinning Kremant says as the scene shows him sitting at a chair beside the pitch-black Storyteller, where he was currently looking at, while also being a bit startled by his mentor's sudden appearance, before pointing at him. "If I just allowed that, wouldn't your growth over the years end up resembling that of someone apathetic with everything and everyone else around him?"

Everyone else, somewhere in the middle of the previous dialog, realizes much to their surprise the appearance of the man with the black cloak as well, with Charlotte understanding almost immediately by the overall appearance, which was discussed by her close friends and lover in one of the previous days, who he is.

Kremant continues. "Can't deny the tremendous possibility. And I'm sure you wouldn't like ending up like that. Would you?"

Aristidis looks at him for a moment longer, and then his expression relaxes. "You are actually not wrong about it. Still rather bummed about it, though."

The cloaked man places a hand upon the Storyteller's shoulder. "Always there to bring only the best out of you. Also hello there." Says the last part as he waves his free arm in a friendly manner toward the rest.

The blue-haired girl gets up and bows politely toward him. "Pleased to meet you, Aristidis's father."

The mouthless Storyteller lifts a finger. "Actually he is-"

"Don't start with this, my boy." Kremant interrupts him. "You know it's not inaccurate."

Everyone else just looks at him, confused as to what is that supposed to mean, while Charlotte sits back down upon her seat again.

He then turns to them as he grabs and lifts the small blackboard from the table while pointing at the last part. "And just to get that out of the way for everyone in the room, rule number three: He is not allowed to wish or use any other overpowered being's or item's power to overwrite the said rules, or this rule. Which is pretty much my way of keeping him from trying to think like a smartass when it comes to the said rules." Says while giving a mischievous look at him.

"Which is actually completely understandable knowing me nowadays." Aristidis admits with an understanding nod, causing the ladies to sweat drop at his audacity at admitting it so easily before the one responsible for the Tome's rules.

Kremant gets up. "Well, that's all from me for now. See you next time, and good luck at dealing with that flood." Says as he winks and points with both index fingers at the Storyteller, before his entire being puffs like the smoke out of existence.

The Duchess was a bit amazed with the way he vanished like that, but then appears confused as she remembers his last words, and turns to the rest. "Wait, what did he mean- What flood?"

"The Lagdorian Lake." Charlotte tells her.

Kirche decides to explain the details. "Apparently the Water Spirit got angry and caused the lake to flood a large part of the area around it for some reason. Many people lost their home because of it."

"That's awful." The blue-haired mother says with a hand close to her mouth, feeling quite bad for the said people's misfortune.

"Indeed." Aristidis says with a nod, in agreement with the Duchess, and the his expression turns slightly more serious. "And for that reason, the three of us will be going there late in the afternoon this day as the sun sets to question the Water Spirit about its flooding activity, and see how we can solve this without hostilities."

The girls nod in agreement with him, determined to help in whatever way they can in case it is needed.

"But before that-" He begins, before pulling with much of enthusiasm from below the table with both hands two reddish bottles of Don Simon brand Sangria wine. "Let us celebrate about your-"

That very moment the door opening interrupts him, drawing everyone's attention at Percerin being the one responsible, who appears to be holding what appears to be an official-looking parchment.

"A message has just come for you, my lady." He tells Charlotte, before approaching and offering the said message to her.

She takes it, reads it, and looks at Aristidis, who is still holding the Sangria bottles high. "From the royal palace of Gallia. Original reason of my presence here."

Kirche and the Duchess look at each other in surprise and slight confusion.

The Storyteller stays motionless in place without saying anything for a moment longer. "Ok, and what it says?"

"Stop the flood caused by the Water Spirit through any means." She answers as she looks at him.

He stays silent for a few seconds, till he decides to break the said silence. "So... What we were planning to do anyway."

Charlotte simply replies with a nod.

"Ok- ANYWAY, like I was saying-" Aristidis begins as he turns with his now overenthusiastic expression toward the Duchess, deciding to not bother with the unimportant to him coincidence. "Let us celebrate about your good health and official return to a more active life!"

After saying that, around the room come suddenly into existence and tied with red ribbons around the walls in a cross-like shape different colored small balloons, as through the doors enter multiple unique and known characters.

Other than Kronk, from the Emperor's New Groove, and Brock, from Pokémon, who carry trays of different foods and drinks to the table, there are six more people who carry different gift boxes each, starting with the black-colored anthropomorphic mouse with the red pants, yellow shoes and white gloves as he waves one hand about with smile Mickey Mouse, coming from a franchise with his name on it, next the twin human children, the boy wearing his signature hat with the pine-tree symbol, and the girl wearing her pink sweater with the shooting star symbol, Dipper and Mabel Pines, from Gravity Falls, then the slim orange and hairy being with his big green hat, together with a blue lizard/horse-looking being with violet hair/mane, and a saddle upon her back, Wander and Sylvia, from Wander Over Yonder, and finishing with one more human/child-looking boy, with the curly hair, the stocky body and the pink shirt with the yellow star on it, Steven Universe, coming also from a franchise with his name on it, as they all walk behind each other toward the still sitting and flabbergasted Duchess.

First to approach is the half of her size mouse, who places his gift down next to her seat, before straightening himself again normally while giving her a happy smile. "Congratulation at removing that nasty drug from your system, miss." Says before he does his characteristic laugh as he walks away.

Second to approach her are the smiling twins. "Congratulations for your good health, miss!" Both tell her at the same time, and then place their gifts at the same place.

"I mean, your highness." The girl corrects herself as she bows before her while pulling a bit the sides of her sweater, wanting to make the said bow looking more elegant.

As they both turn to walk away, the boy moves closer to his sister to whisper with a sweat drop. "She is not really a queen, you know."

The girl moves her head a tiny bit closer to his to whisper as well, the smile never leaving her face. "She would be if they didn't play her dirty, so we should at least make her feel like one."

The third to approach the blue-haired woman are the orange furry-being and the blue lizard/horse-looking one, with the former appearing to be quite enthusiastic.

"So happy for you! This is from the both of us-" Wander says as they both place their gifts down, before he takes off his hat to pull out from within his banjo. "And also this new song I made for the special occasion."

As he takes a breath and about to sing as he prepares to put the banjo into use, his friend Sylvia grabs it, much to his confusion, and then with a bored expression begins to slowly push him while walking away along with her. "Plenty of time for that later, buddy. The woman just got well, let's not tire her out before the party even starts."

"Also-" Sylvia begins as she turns to the blue-haired mother with a smile and a thumb up. "Good that you beaten it out of you, girl."

And finally the last one to approach who is the smiling boy with the curly hair, Steven, who puts his gift box on top of the rest. "And that's from me and the rest of the Gems. Sorry they couldn't come too, but the Storyteller says it would be too straining for him. Anyway, congratulation from all of us for getting better, miss!"

The boy walks away as well after giving his congratulations like the rest, as the Duchess begins to come out of her surprised/confused state as she watches around at the table the extra characters seated by the table and talking to each other along with Aristidis, Kirche and Charlotte, while the servers fill the table with foods and other drinks, as the incredibly confused Percerin tries to understand where the hell these people came from all of a sudden.

And she can't help but smile, emotionally moved at the pitch-black Storyteller's, and of the rest of course, thoughtfulness in doing all this to celebrate her good health.

To think her daughter would be able to find such a great and considerate person is beyond her wildest dreams, and wouldn't be able to think of this fact as anything but a true blessing.

~Hours Later~At Lagdorian Lake~

Long after the celebration and the waiting back at the mansion, Aristidis, Charlotte and Kirche went on their way, once the time was right, for the Lagdorian Lake.

The sun was halfway from vanishing in the horizon to allow the night the moons and the stars above to take his place, with the scene showing the trio at the edge of the current body of the calm water that has flooded its way now till a part of the thick forest they are present.

"Before anything else-" The mouthless Storyteller begins before turning his head to the blue-haired girl. "Are you sure that after this don't you want to go back and stay with your mother for a few more days, Charlotte? Not that I don't like your company, but it has technically been years since the last time you were able to spend time together like family, and a day hardly seems like appropriately enough."

"Doesn't mind." Charlotte simply tells him. "We can communicate through the Tome Subjects you left with her at any time."

She then moves her arm and wraps it around his own. "Also wants us two to spend more time together."

Aristidis at that pinches her cheek with his other hand, after the Tome is placed under his other arm. "Quite the cute little lady, aren't we?"

The blue-haired girl blushes and pouts at that, liking the attention, but not being treated in a way one would treat a child.

Kirche moves close enough that moment to press her shoulder lovingly against Aristidis's. "You find me a cute lady too, right, darling?"

He looks at her with a neutral expression. "You are many goods as you are, but cute is not one of them."

That causes her to step back both surprised and overdramatically crestfallen. "Hu~h, but why?! What is that cute Charlotte has that I don't?"

"Need to even ask?" Aristidis questions with a raised eyebrow, before turning, taking a hold with both hands the blue-haired girl by the upper part of the sides from behind her while lifting her to his height, much to her confusion, and then bringing her in front of him before the redhead. "Firstly, like Louise, she is shorter than you, and that alone understandably adds to her cuteness."

"And secondly-" He continues, before immediately showing an expression full of delight. "Just look at her! Doesn't she look like a cuddly-cuddly kitten? Tell me you don't see it too." Says as he excitedly moves her a bit closer to her.

Kirche leans somewhat forward with a hand on her chin and expression now that of understanding while looking more carefully at her close friend. "Oh, when you put it like that, you're actually quite right. I see now."

That causes Charlotte to become actually upset as she keeps on pouting, till the scene cuts immediately to the moment where she is off his grip, and hitting him repeatedly at his chest with the under part of both of her fists to vent her frustration, which doesn't faze him in the slightest, while both he and the redhead laugh at her cute to them outburst.

After that, the scene immediately cuts to the pitch-black Storyteller facing the large body of water as he looks through the pages of his Tome, with the two girls standing behind him, and with the blue-haired girl still pouting about. "Anyway, let me see for a moment who should I call for this as a start."

As he does that, Kirche with a smile leans sideward toward her close friend, drawing her attention as she stops with the pouting. "You know, I feel bad for Louise for missing the party, along with our little quest here."

She then looks up to the now night sky curious. "Wonder what she is doing right now as we speak."

~Meanwhile~Back At The Academy~

The academy of magic. Empty of all people but the guards.

But even if it was not for the night, the place would still be devoid of any student due to them all being out for their known vacation days.

Well not all, really.

Somewhere in the vast courtyard, a table is prepared with a lantern at its middle for lighting, and two glasses for champagne that have just been filled, and two known students seated upon the chairs there.

The blonde girl with the curly, long hair Montmorency, and the blond boy Guiche, who appear to be having a good romantic date together.

After the last fiasco with the first year girl, Guiche tried multiple times to get Montmorency to forgive and give him another chance, with the girl appearing to have done so.

In actuality, that's not quite the case.

She is still fuming on the inside about it, along with more of his past transgressions.

But at the same time, she just can't bring herself to imagine her life without him. She just can't.

So, only one logical thing to do.

Spike his drink with the Love Potion she has made without his notice, so she can ensure he will only have eyes for her from then on.

It is highly illegal and more than immoral of a move, Montmorency knows that well, but in Guiche's case, completely understandable she believes.

There is absolutely nothing that can stop her now.

The two of them raise their glasses, making a toast to their love, but stop as soon as they hear a curious noise next to them, before they turn to notice the pink, cute ball that is Kirby who looks at their drinks in wonder, causing them to "Eh?" in their utter confusion.

Guiche decides to begin first the obvious question. "What is-"

"Kirby!" A known girl's voice from afar interrupts him, before the two notice Louise running worried toward them, just before she reaches and grabs the pink being with both arms straight into her hug. "Don't just run off like that. You were supposed to be in bed by now."

"Louise?" Montmorency questions in her confusion as she sweat drops. "Didn't you leave with the rest for the vacation?"

The pink-haired girl looks at her with a raised eyebrow. "I would ask you the same thing. How come and you two are still here?"

Guiche's expression turns proud. "Well, as you can probably guess, it's so me and my one and only in the world Montmorency can have a proper romantic date, with no one around but our love." Says at the end while turning with a seductive look as he takes ahold with both his hands the blonde girl's ones, causing her to blush but mostly sweat drop at his usual sweet talk.

Louise sweat drops as well, due to being reminded of a certain pitch-black flatterer, with the only difference being that her Noble of a Familiar actually means what he says.

Not that she like that kind of attention from him, but she got to admit at least that much.

"By the way-" The blond guy begins, before pointing at the cute pink ball wrapped in the pink-haired girl's arms. "What is that... Odly cute, strange creature in your arms?"

"Have you not seen him from last day?" Louise asks, confused as to how the two of them didn't know about Kirby considering his popularity the moment he was witnessed by pretty much the entire student mass yesterday.

She then smiles as she is about to introduce him. "This little one is-"

Before she finishes that line, Kirby opens his mouth wide, and suctions the air before him, much to the trio's surprise, till he ends up sucking inside the two glasses of champagne, along with the lantern, and swallows before letting out a sigh of satisfaction.

"My po- Our champagne!" Motmonrency yells as she corrects herself in her shock after witnessing her plan getting swallowed by the pink ball of a creature all of a sudden.

Guiche gets over of his surprise and looks at Louise rather upset. "Hey, that was for us to have, Valliere!"

"A- I-I'm sorry!" Louise exclaims quite troubled about, and turns Kirby around to look at him in a serious and reprimanding manner. "Kirby, you can't just eat other people's stuff, it's wrong!"

The cute pink ball puts one of his stubby hand over his mouth while showing sad-looking puppy-dog eyes at her, expressing that he didn't mean to do bad.

The pink-haired girl is stunned for a moment by Kirby's expression, and then gives him a tighter hug as she rubs her face upon him, overtaken by his overwhelming cuteness, which causes him to utter happily. "I can't be mad at you, you're just so incredibly CUTE!"

As she keeps on being like that, the blond guy sweat drops at the two, unsure of how to respond further while seeing them like that, while the blonde girl turns her back on them as she grabs her own head, still in utter disbelief at how the love potion went to waste like that.

Guiche sighs as he lowers his sight downward. "There goes our romantic date..."

Louise slowly snaps out of her little cute aggression as she looks at how sad the two Nobles before her are, making her feel bad for the trouble she allowed to happen to them.

She smiles awkwardly at them. "W-Would you like to try a nice bowl of ice-cream? My treat for your drinks."

Montmorency turns around toward her, tilting her head a bit confused. "Ice-cream?"

Guiche raises an eyebrow at Louise's suggestion. "What is that? Some kind of really frozen cream?"

"Trust me, it is much, MUCH better than you expect." The pink-haired girl tells them somewhat excited, before turning around toward the academy kitchen's direction. "The way it's made in the many stories of Aristidis's Tome is simply something else. Just wait till you try it!"

As soon as she finishes telling them that, Kirby exclaims excited at the thought of eating ice-cream again while being carried, with the blond guy getting interest enough at the thought himself as he decides to go along, and with the blonde girl sighing and shrugging before deciding to follow as well, still bummed about, while also hoping that that ice-cream thing will help her forget the deep disappointment she feels.

So much for that plan of hers.

~Meanwhile~Back At The Lagdorian Lake~

"Hmm... You know what, sure, we could try with this one." Aristidis says to himself after thinking about it as he nods satisfied while checking a certain page in his Tome.

The two girls try to take a quick curious look at the Tome from behind him, but he is too tall even for the redhead to do so properly, seeing only part of a white figure of something.

"What one, darling- Who you gonna call?" Kirche asks him very curious about.

"You know that it is impolite to talk about someone who is already present, so turn left and greet the little guy yourselves already." The pitch-black Storyteller tells them as he faces forward at the lake, with the somewhat confused girls turning their heads to the side to see floating and smiling at them a white yet somewhat transparent-looking small child, without clothes. [Casper from Casper The Friendly Ghost, here to play his part.]

The floating child waves at them. "Hi, my name is Casper. Nice to meet you."

"Oh my, HE IS SO CU-" Kirche begins overwhelmed by his cuteness while attempting to tackle-hug him, but stops herself as soon as ends up passing right through him, causing her quite the confusion as she turns around to look at him again. "Eh?"

She brings just her hands now toward him, which result in them passing through, as Casper puts a hand over his mouth and chin a bit confused with her move, before she pulls them fast back while exclaiming in great surprise.

Aristidis can't help but laugh amused at that for a moment as he closes his Tome. "Sorry, I forgot to mention. He is a ghost."

"Gh..." Charlotte begins with wide open eyes only to stop halfway in her shock, and then moves fast right beside Aristidis to use him as cover, while she trembles scared as she keeps her eyes at Casper, much to the confusion of the rest.

"What is wrong, Charlotte?" The redhead asks her.

The mouthless Storyteller sees how the blue-haired doesn't answer as she keeps her frightened eyes at the ghost-child, and his eyes widen for a moment in realization. "Wait, you have a fear of ghosts?"

She nods once as she keeps on with the scared stare.

That was unexpected for both Kirche and Aristidis, with Casper simply feeling bad as he looks down with the hands behind his back.

The pitch-black Storyteller turns and kindly hugs the blue-haired girl. "Oh, my poor girl..." Says as he pats her back with a hand a few times to calm her a bit.

He then pushes back himself enough to look at her as he keeps his hands on her shoulders now. "So, how did that phobia began? Storytelling from mother, servants, or books?"

"B-Books." Charlotte replies with a frightened whisper. "Cr-Creepy stories... Haunting stories... Brutal stories... Cursed beings that can't be touched. Can't be repelled. Can't run away from. They are always there... Waiting to-"

"Ok, ok, I will have to stop you there." Aristidis interrupts, drawing her attention. "Listen, similar stories that you just described exist within my Tome indeed, and let me tell you, they are many-"

Her eyes widen, the shock greatly increased in them due to knowing the fact that everything in his Tome is real.

"But that doesn't mean you have to be scared of them all." He continues, and then puts a hand on his chest as he shows a more proud face now. "Or not at all, since I can deal with such things without much trouble, really."

Charlotte simply looks at him, with Kirche sweat dropping at the arrogance he is showing even at moments like this.

Aristidis drops the prideful behavior, and moves next to her while indicating with a palm the ghost-child before them. "And after all, just look at the little guy. Does this one really appear like a cursed being of malevolence to you?"

Casper looks at her guiltily. "I didn't want to scare you, I just wanted to be friendly."

The redhead "Awws" with a smile and a hand over her chest at the ghost-child's kind/cute words.

The pitch-black Storyteller turns to the blue-haired girl. "The story he comes from is literally called Casper The Friendly Ghost. Where most people get scared of him, while he simply tries to be friendly and helpful toward them."

He then puts his index finger upon the tip of her nose, while looking at her with a serious expression, causing her slight nervousness. "Poor Casper is always treated like a threat just because he happens to be a ghost. So, as the smarter person, what you believe to be the right thing you should do now?"

As he removes the finger from Charlotte, she takes into consideration everything he said while looking at the sad-looking ghost-child, with her fear soon after leaving entirely, being replaced by her feeling now bad for the way she treated the said child.

She takes a step forward, and bows politely. "Sorry."

Casper puts both hands together down before him and smiles. "It's ok, I'm just happy I don't scare you anymore."

"He is so precious I can hardly stand it!" Kirche yells with both hands placed upon her cheeks, completely overwhelmed by the ghost-child's charm.

"Also seriously-" Aristidis begins with his arms folded as he raises an eyebrow at the blue-haired girl, drawing attention back to him. "We are to meet a spirit, which you had no obvious problem with to come along, and suddenly you are showing to be afraid of them?"

Charlotte's expression turns a bit serious as she raises a finger, ready to explain. "Not the same. Spirits Of Elements: Entities that existed from the time of the Founder, and protectors of both elements and Nobles that made pacts with them. Ghosts: Cursed dead and scourge to anyone unlucky enough to meet them. Very different."

She then looks at Casper. "No offense."

"Some ghosts I know can be very mean when they want to scare people, so I understand." He replies with his arms folded and a nod.

The pitch-black Storyteller shurgs his shoulders as he keeps his attention to Charlotte. "Very well, I will let you have this one due to how your world works. Now-"

He turns with a fabulous flip of his luxurious stary cape toward the lake. "Let us proceed with the plan."

"Um, speaking about it, what is that plan exactly?" The redhead asks him, since he didn't actually told them about it yet.

"Quite simple, really." Aristidis tells them, before bringing a sideward palm before the ghost-child to indicate him. "Casper here will float straight to the middle of the flooding lake, search for the Water Spirit deep inside, and ask it to meet us here for an audience."

"There will be no need for such thing." A somewhat etherial voice coming from the lake says, causing the four to look confused toward it.

Almost as soon, a large body of water before them begin raising, reaching a point almost as tall as a tree, before it starts shaping, eventually ending up resembling a transparent form of Aristidis made out entirely of the said water, without the cape.

Charlotte, Kirche and Casper look at the Water Spirit looking upon them with awe.

As for Aristidis-

"What?" The Storyteller begins as he appears to be slightly exasperated, before pointing at the ghost-child while keeping his attention at the spirit. "And I brought him here specifically for that reason. Now the poor ghost-child will just float about with nothing special to do." Says as he brings both hands up to the air to show his further disappointment.

"I'm just happy to be included." Casper says a bit awkwardly, wanting to show that he truly doesn't mind.

Aristidis lowers his arms and now looks at the water spirit curiously. "In any case, did you know we wanted to speak with you, or simply felt our curious enough to you presence?"

The Spirit begins. "We have felt your presence from your first pass the day before. A presence that feels as if magic known and not, have come together in one place, with the one of Gandálfr being the most apparent."

Charlotte, Kirche and Casper look at each other, confused as to what that Gandálfr that the spirit speaks about is.

"Hmm, I see..." The mouthless Storyteller trails off with a hand on his chin as he contemplates about it. (So, that's what Kremant used as a basis. He made my magic signature similar if not the same as that of a Gandálfr's, in order for the magic ritual to target me. A very interesting detail indeed.)

"You say you want to speak with us." The Water Spirit continues. "What is it that you wish to know about, existence obviously not of this world?"

"First and foremost, I want to know the reason you have risen the water levels of the Lagdorian Lake so high." He simply asks the spirit while removing his hand from the chin.

"Some humans of this world abducted the treasure that we were guarding." The spirit says, causing the four to wonder about it, before continuing. "We can exist only in water. Therefore, should we fill the entire word with water, we will someday have the treasure back in our hands."

"That explains it." Aristidis says while rubbing his chin while obviously curious. "What is that treasure you speak of?"

"The Ring Of Andvari." The water Spirit answers. "A ring that has spent much of time with us."

"OOH, the little copyright from Norse mythology I've read about in one of this world's books, I see." He responds with an understanding nod as he remembers the subject, confusing the rest even more due to not understanding what is he even talking about, and then appears to be somewhat concerned. "Quite concerning now that I think about it better, actually."

Charlotte pulls his cape a bit to gain his attention. "Explanation."

Aristidis turns to her with a serious. "According to said book, the Ring Of Andvari has the ability to give its user control over the mind of anyone standing before its influencing light, drain the life out of a living being, and even cause a dead person to regenarate from his mortal and in general wounds, as long as the said body is not way too damaged, while also creating a fake-spiritual existence within it, using both the subject's memories along with the master's will, so the body can do nothing but their bidding."

The trio is shocked with the power they hear that the ring holds.

"And if you consider that those people not only went to the trouble, but also being able to get the ring from something like the Water Spirit itself, that makes them a great inconvenience for whatever their schemes about it are." The pitch-black Storyteller tells them, and then turns to the spirit. "Do you know who they are, or any other information that might prove helpful for us."

"One of the individuals was called Cromwell." The Water Spirit tells him. "We know nothing more."

Aristidis folds his arms while putting a hand upon his chin once more in contemplation. "Hm. Interesting choice as an English-type of reference."

His words once again confuse the three behind him, unsure of the meaning behind the said reference he speaks of.

After thinking for some more, he pulls the hand back into his folded arms while looking at the spirit. "Alright, here is how this will go. I will find and make sure the ring is returned back to you, but I will have you promise to lower the lake's water back to its normal levels starting from now, so the townsfolk can return back to their homes without being disturbed any further. Acceptable?"

"The Gandálfr of the past kept his oath with us once, and so we shall believe in his word once more." The Water Spirit tells him. "The water shall retreat back into the lake. That, we promise."

Almost as soon as it said that, the spirit's form loses its shape as it retreats back into the lake's water, with the water levels already showing to be slowly retreating as promised, much to the surprise of the trio behind him, due to how easy it was.

Aristidis turns around pleased toward them with both hands on his hips. "Well, that was anticlimactically easier than expected, but I am not one to complain. Are you?"

Kirche closes in fast and hugs him happily, while proceeding to also rub her cheek onto his chest. "You were as amazing as ever, my darling! Only you could convince something like a great spirit, and make it look like nothing special. Simply amazing!"

"Good work." Charlotte simply tells him with a thumb up.

The pitch-black Storyteller at that makes a quick proud uttering while raising somewhat his head in a self-important manner. "As always, without a single doubt about it in mind."

The blue-haired girl sweat drops at his known arrogance, while the redhead keeps on hugging him as she giggles about, as little Casper claps his hands for the Storyteller's success.

"Now that the flooding issue has been dealt with-" Aristidis begins as he breaks the hug, before he opens his Tome to check something, as the three look at him curiously. "I will need to make plans on how to proceed with this whole Ring Of Andvari situation. Shouldn't take me much."

"Before that, can you explain what was all that Gandálfr stuff about?" Kirche asks.

The Storyteller keeps his eyes on the Tome. "I will explain about that on the way. For now, let us proceed to our carriage. We have and an academy with a precious pink gem of a girl to return back to, after all."

With that, they begin walking together toward the path the carriage is supposed to be, while the redhead appears thoughtful about. "Still, to think those people even went through with it, they must be truly crazy to dare steal from something like the Water Spirit itself."

"Possibly." The blue-haired girl responds.

Something comes to Kirche's mind that moment, and turns to her close friend. "By the way, Charlotte, what got you to act so offended against our dear Aristidis moments before the party back at the mansion? Seriously, what could he even do to-"

Charlotte stops her that moment, causing the Storyteller and Casper to stop, turn, and look at them as well, before moving close to her ear to whisper the reason.

"Oh..." The redhead trails off quite surprised after receiving her explanation, and then with a sweat drop turns to Aristidis. "Darling, I admit to have many fetishes myself, but that's too wrong even to me. No." Says at the end while shaking her head as to show her further disagreement with the Storyteller's attempt back at the mansion, making him sweat drop out of some awkwardness too.

Who would have thought that Kirche of all people would tell Aristidis about his idea being too perverted to be acceptable. Quite the irony indeed.

~The Next Morning~At The Known Academy Of Magic~

The sun has already risen above the academy, with the scene moving inside Louise's room to show the pink-haired girl waking up.

She sits up while yawning and stretching like she always does after a goodnight sleep.

She then takes a look around, seeing Kirby still sleeping beside her, and then spotting the maid Cinderella by the drawer preparing the clothes of the day, with the door that moment opening as Siesta is seen entering the room, with Jerry Mouse upon her shoulder like most of the time, giving a much bigger smile than usual.

"Good morning, Louise." The black-haired maid greets the Noble girl.

Louise smiles to her as well. "Good morning, Siesta, Cinderella."

The orange-haired maid simply nods at her with a smile at that, greeting her in silence as she focuses at her current task.

The pink-haired girl then looks curiously at Siesta. "It's so early in the morning, yet you seem oddly joyous. How so?"

"Oh no reason, really." She tells her, as she now appears a bit amused, with the brown mouse covering his mouth to not laugh. "There is just something really funny behind the door I didn't expect at all. Why don't you come take a look too?"

Louise appears confused by that.

What could be so funny to want her to come check it out herself?

Deciding to not overthink about it, the pink-haired Noble gets up, approaches the door, while Siesta steps aside for her, and opens it, seeing much to her surprise Aristidis, holding his closed Tome before his chest, Charlotte and Kirche, with all three of them wearing on their heads hats that resemble Kirby's face, with the former being somewhat joyous, the second being her usual stoic self, and the latter simply smiling.

"Excuse me, do you have a moment to talk about our lordly cute and savior Kirby?" The mouthless Storyteller asks her.

Louise is paused for a moment in her sudden surprise and confusion, with the pink cute ball waking up almost as soon as he heard his name, and turning to notice them and wave his hand at them happily, and then smiles brightly. "Aristidis, everyone, you are back!"

"So glad to see you happy with our relatively quick return, dear Louise." He tells her delighted while slightly crouching and placing a hand upon her shoulder. "We have many news to share with. Starting with this!"

After saying that, he straightens himself up with one fist proudly placed upon his hip. "Guess what."

"Wh-What?" She questions as she wonders what is this about, while feeling a bit uneasy for some reason.

When hearing the awaiting question, he brings both arms around Charlotte's and Kirche's shoulders, and pulls them both close to his sides, with the latter turning to place her hands around his neck and opposite shoulder in a loving way, and with the former averting her eyes as she blushes softly about, as he shows an incredibly joyous expression. "Your close friends are now officially both part of our harem. Great, is it not?"

Louise stands there shocked for a moment, as the maids behind her clap their hands happy for the Storyteller's achievement, till she could respond in the only way her mind deems possible. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

{To Be Continued}