Disclaimer: We own nothing, Mothy/Akuno P owns EC and Kouri owns Ib. We won't do anything today cos we're too tired after today's party so we present you the story without futher ado (Actually, Yukki's just being lazy she doesn't wanna do her turn this chapter at all, seeing as I did the previous chapter.)
Chapter 8 - Preparations
Garry, Ib and Allen had just arrived at the room Riliane was temporarily lending Garry and Ib. "Good to be back here~" Garry sighed as he walked over to his bed and laid down. "So the people we met before are going to help us get home...But how are they going to do that? Do they have magical powers or something? They looked like they were wizards..."
"They are," Allen stated in a matter of factly tone, "They're the Mages who are responsible of taking care and researching everything that's related to magic in this Kingdom."
"..." Ib and Garry stared at him as if he were talking in alien language. After a few moments, Allen decided to ask, "Um... Don't tell me you haven't seen a Mage before?"
"Well...Mages, magics and stuff like that don't exist in our world... Well, they kind of do but only as illusions or tricks...or in fantasies, such as books." Garry tried to explain. "So...what can Mages do in this world?"
"..." Allen was stunned that Mages or witches or anything related to magic did not exist in their world but he quickly overcame the shock and regained his composure. "Ahem... Well I'm rather shocked about that since I haven't heard of a kingdom or town without at least one or two Mages. Well, about them, I don't really know, why don't you ask them? Dinner has arrived. Do enjoy and after this you need to be somewhere, so please be ready."
Allen explained as the door opened to reveal one of the servants push in a cart of food and leave it near the table. She left after taking a small bow just before Allen did and the two started eating.
After finishing their meals, Elluka walked over to Garry and Ib's room with Gumillia following her. "Hi guys! Ready or not we're dragging you both to our rooms and we'll start interrogating you!" She said that as she literally slammed open their door and walked over to them. "Let's go!" She said while grabbing Garry's coat and dragging it with her.
"Wh- What?! Where are you taking Garry?!" Ib shouted as she started to break out in sobs. Suddenly, she felt herself being brought up in the air as well and panicked only to realize that it was Gumillia whom picked her up.
As they walked, Gumillia whispered to Ib, "Don't worry, we won't do much to you. We're just going to ask you some questions, but if you don't cooperate then we will punish you accordingly." As she said that, she flashed an almost innocent smile towards Ib which sent several shivers down her spine. Ib started to doubt her words.
Allen, who had just arrived after the mages did, had remained silent and stayed in the room to clean up the mess that was left behind in the room.
"Hey! I can walk!" Garry shouted as he tried to make Elluka let go of his coat.
"No need to do that, we're already here. I just needed to touch you so I could bring you along with me to teleport to our room," Elluka stated and let go of Garry. "Right, Gumillia?" She turned to look at her apprentice with an amused smile when she saw Ib shivering in her arms.
"Yes, Miss Elluka," She replied as she put Ib down on her feet gently but suddenly, Ib's legs buckled and she ended up kneeling on the floor unable to stand and shivering in shock.
"Wh-What was that?" Ib stuttered as she tried to recover from her shock. She was sure that they were in their room a minute ago but now they ended up in a dark room where the only source of light were the glow in the dark skulls that hung on the walls. They were giving out a soft green glow which made the room even spookier. The only other source of light was the lamp on a table filled with books.
The room also had bookshelves that were filled with books in the corner of the room. There were only two windows in this room, but they were blocked by curtains. There were several soft and cushioned chairs in the middle of the room, all of them were facing and surrounding a small wooden table.
Elluka walked over to the door and turned on the ceiling lights, which made the room less spooky and brighter, and then she took a seat on one of the chairs and motioned for all of them to do the same, not caring much about the apparent shock of Ib(and garry).
"Why does this room feel so much more spookier than the rest of the castle?" Garry asked as he went over to Ib and helped her up when he finally recovered from the shock.
"What did you say?" Gumillia muttered in a deep voice. Her tone was filled with rage and in her palms appeared a fireball that illuminated the whole room.
"Nothing! I didn't say anything ma'am!" Garry replied in a panic.
Elluka laughed, "Gumillia, I didn't teach you how to make a fireball to threaten people and we still need to get our questions answered."
"Hmph," With that, she lowered her palms and the fireball disappeared along with that action. "So anyway, shall we start with the questions?" Gumillia asked, still irritated by the insult towards her interior designing.
Suddenly, there was a gasp from behind and they turned only to see Ib squealing, "WOW, SO YOU GUYS CAN DO TELEPORTATION? TEACH ME~ TEACH ME~," She was circling around Elluka and was very hyper, apparently already recovered from her shock.
Elluka raised her eyebrows at her, "Teaching magic can take many years, you either stay here and learn from me or you sit down, answer my questions and go home."
"Eh~" Ib pouted and went to sit down, Garry went over to a chair and sat in it.
After several hours of answering and asking many questions, they suddenly heard a knock on the door. "Who's there?" Elluka asked.
"It's me, Allen. I presumed you would want a snack," Allen replied through the door. "Also, when you're done with the two, please bring them to the grand hall, I require assistance from them."
"Oh...did you bring in macaroons?" Elluka asked as she used her magic to open the door for Allen from her seat.
"Yes, I brought some since you looked so excited about eating them. Also, do you mind bringing them to the Grand Hall later when you're done?" Allen repeated himself.
"Sure, why don't you eat with us? And when we're done we'll teleport all of you to the grand hall." Elluka said as she took one macaroon and put it in her mouth to taste it. "IT'S GOOD! GUMILLIA TRY IT!"
"Thank you for the offer but I'm not really hungry now." Allen replied Elluka politely.
Garry tried to ignore Elluka's reaction and asked, "What're we going to do there?"
"I need your help to put up some decorations for an upcoming party that the Princess is hosting. We're currently very understaffed and need to get all these decorations up before tomorrow morning. I was hoping you both wouldn't mind helping." Allen explained.
Ib ignored the request from Allen, she was still unhappy about Elluka refusing to teach her magic. "Allen~ Miss Elluka doesn't want to teach me how to do the teleportation thingy~" Ib rushed over to Allen and whined while tugging onto his arm.
Elluka stopped rejoicing over the taste of the macaroons and created a fireball, "You want me to burn you to death?! I already told you it's either you stay here and learn and never go home or don't learn and go home!"
Garry rushed over to Ib's side and stood protectively in front of Ib. "S-she's just a kid! Give her a chance!"
"But I can't teach and make the portal to let the both of you go home at the same time! It's not like it takes a second to learn magic anyway. Now do you understand?" Elluka let the fireball disappear and sat back down.
Gumillia sweat dropped, seeing as she was previously lectured about not abusing the use of magic, but chose to remain silent as she picked a macaroon and popped it into her mouth. "This. Is. Heaven." She squealed in her mind.
"Hmm," Allen pondered on his idea for a moment and asked, "Miss Elluka, can you create the portal alone?"
"Well it is possible but it might take some time..." Elluka stated.
"Do you mind, Ib? If you don't, I have a good idea..." Allen asked Ib.
"No, I don't mind," Ib replied, but she was worried about how Garry would feel, "Garry, how about you?"
Garry shrugged, "If it means I get to try and learn magic as well, why not?"
"Great! Well then Miss Elluka, I hope you don't mind lending Gumillia for the rest of the time. If you need her, we will return her to you. Well then I see you're done with the interrogation so why don't Gumillia bring us to the Grand Hall and you stay here to work on the portal?" Allen said in a blur, worried that Elluka might take any sign of hesitation as a chance to retort and left her in a state of shock as Gumillia agreed and teleported them there quickly, grabbing a few pieces of macaroons beforehand.
As they successfully teleported into the Grand Hall, Gumillia suddenly asked, "What are you trying to do Allen?" Her hand held a few macaroons that was soon devoured by Gumillia.
"Well, Miss Elluka said she can create the portal alone so that would mean you're free right? And since Ib wanted to learn magic, why not instead of Elluka teaching her, you do it?" Allen suggested towards the trio that stood in front of him, an innocent smile that lay many hidden evil intentions etched onto his face.
"That's a good idea Allen! But I feel bad about leaving Miss Elluka alone...that and I'm also a Mage that's still in training." Gumillia said.
"Well, at least you know how the basic spells work right? That's enough for Ib since she won't be staying here for very long," Allen reassured her and faced the other two, "I called you here for a special reason, I want you to help out with cleaning up and if we have enough time, decorating, the Grand Hall for tomorrow night's party for the Princess."
"Who're the other servants in charge?" Garry asked.
"The other servants in charge are the only ones who are asked to do this, apart from Mariam whom isn't able to present herself today due to... reasons," Allen said as he settled on a word that was able to avoid him of being asked any further questions.
Mariam was the head maid of the palace so of course she would be notified of the party arrangements but because she had something else going on, she said that she would not be able to help out today.
"Gumillia, you can go help Elluka for today or you could just get some rest. You will teach Ib magic another time, today she will help out as well," Allen said as he faced Gumillia once again.
"Awww, I don't get to help out as well?" Gumillia whined, "You're short-handed right?"
"Hmm...," Allen considered the option and finally decided, "Okay, you can help out. Just be sure not to mess anything up or get too distracted."
Hours later of doing nothing but decorating and cleaning, the Grand Hall was finally decorated in colorful silk ribbons and other decorations. The floor was so well polished that everyone could see their own reflection clearly on the marble flooring.
"Phew...finally! This took us like...3 hours!" Garry exclaimed in exhaustion.
"Well this isn't the end, there's still more to come. Tomorrow we will prepare the food and the seats. You can't expect the guests to stand and eat right?" Allen explained.
Tomorrow there would be more work and they would need to hurry since the party is that night. Tomorrows' tasks may sound easy but it wasn't, not one bit. They had to ask the cooks to prepare the food and clean up again since the place would be used once again in the morning...
"Oh...then why can't we set up the tables and seats now? Then we just have to cook and place the food right?" Garry asked in innocence. He has completely no idea how these things work.
"...," Allen was stunned at what he said and sighed, "You seriously aren't from our world are you? The Grand Hall is used daily for official affairs, if you place the arrangements now then it will cause everyone trouble and the Princess would be very angry with us."
"Ohh...So...we can't start on the arrangements now?" He asked once more for confirmation.
"No you idiot. Didn't you hear what he said?" Elluka's voice was suddenly heard behind them all.
"AH, Elluka! What are you doing here at this hour?" Gumillia was surprised since Elluka didn't really go out unless necessary for example meals.
"I came to deliver some news for our ex-prisoners." Elluka stated bluntly, with a slight hint of anger and irritation. "And of course, to collect you back." She turned to Gumillia as she said this.
"AWWWWWW, but she hasn't taught me any magic yet...," Ib pouted. She was looking forward to Gumillia teaching her magic after the preparations had ended for the day.
Elluka chuckled. "That's why I came to collect her, it's best for me to do so now before she teaches you in vain."
"What do you mean by in vain?" Garry asked in defence in Ib's place.
"And that's the news I came to deliver. Magic can't be used in your world." Elluka explained.
"Eh..." Ib fell silent as she heard this and looked as if she was about to cry. At the sight of this, Garry panicked and tried to comfort her but as he was about to do so, Ib stood upright and shook her head vigorously as if to shake those tears away and declared, "It's okay, I don't mind learning even if it's in vain. As long as I get to learn something I'm happy."
Garry was in shock as he saw Ib recover from almost crying. Elluka smiled and patted Ib on the head. "That's a good spirit! Then it's decided! I'll be personally teaching you! And Gumillia will take my place of making the portal. Since she abandoned me so cruelly for 3 hours," She said as she gave a warning look in Gumillia's direction.
Gumillia noticed the look and felt a shiver down her spine, "Yes, Miss Elluka" She said as she made a curtsy towards her. She was afraid what would await her if she didn't agree to it even though she wanted to teach Ib very eagerly.
Elluka smiled at Gumillia as she was about to teleport her apprentice way back to their room. "Shall we begin our lessons after tomorrow's party preparations?" She asked Ib gently.
"Yay! Thank you Miss Elluka!" Ib jumped in joy as she thanked her soon-to-be-mentor and ran towards Garry, "Hey Garry, can we go to bed now? I'm getting sleepy…" As she said that, she gave a huge yawn, as if to emphasize her fatigue. It was probably way past her bedtime anyway.
Garry smiled back at Ib and turned to Allen, "Of course! Allen, could you lead us back to our room?"
Allen smiled and said, "Okay, just hold on for a while. Miss Elluka, your snack should have already been delivered to your room and if you don't mind, could you teleport them to their rooms? I still have matters to take care of around here." He turned towards Elluka for confirmation and smiled sweetly.
Elluka nodded briefly and held both Ib and Garry's hand. Before either Garry or Ib could blink, the three of them were in Garry and Ib's room. "Well then I'll leave the two of you alone to rest, I shall go get my midnight snack now!" She let go of their hands and smiled happily, almost childlike, before she teleported out of their room.
Garry stood there unmoving and after some time, he finally said, "I still can't get used to that teleporting stuff no matter how many times it happens…"
Ib smiled sleepily at Garry and immediately walked towards her bed and yawned, "Goodnight Garry, see you tomorrow morning."
"Goodnight," Garry replied and blew the candle on the bedside table so he could go to bed as well.
To be continued~
Sorry no convo, we're really tired. (*Ahem* "we")