A table in a cafe at Hamel was filled by a group. Everyone introduced each other before going into a discussion. Aisha started with their speculation about what was happening in the last few chapters.
"Prince? That's his real name?" El asked with a confused look. He never heard of that name, not even any rumor. Was his roommate actually that lazy to the point he couldn't get any information about him aside from his family? And even worse, Chung didn't remember he had an older brother until yesterday.
"Scary flower? What's a scary flower?" Ara asked and folded her arms. She didn't remember seeing any flower that looked scary. All of them were pretty and beautiful.
"So Chung saw something at the school, ran away, and now he was still following the ghost's voices and ran away again?" Edward asked as he updated his chart. Everything would be easier if their key to finding the plot is at least a teenager. But this was a clueless kid, still less than a decade old, with no sense of reality yet.
"We actually waited at the train station and found him, to be honest. The school is in Velder though," Ara said with a shrug. Even Ara still had an IQ to think about how a kid could just travel freely to Velder from Hamel back and forth. "Oh, come on! Am I supposed to be that stupid?!" she yelled at the author.
"Unless he trusted someone in there. I'm seeing the connection. Tell me any names of people who live there," Edward said and looked at the Triplets, waiting for any answer. "Els? Eve? Who else? El? Elesis?"
"Else," Noah bursted out laughing and slammed the cafe table.
"What? Elsa?" El asked as he raised his one eyebrow. He couldn't think of anyone else. It would be Raven if Chung knew him, but that's not the case.
"Why don't we just go to the school ourselves?" Noah asked with a bored look. He disliked discussion anyway. Just go.
"You're right, let's just go. I'm starting to think Chung is trusting a ghost and not human," Edward agreed with Noah. The two of them just left the cafe and waited outside.
"Damn, you finally got two men for yourself. I'm so proud, after all the failures you had in the school," Ara said as she wiped her tears of happiness. Aisha had a crush on several people at school, but she got cucked every time.
Aisha sighed heavily and pouted. "What are you thinking?!"
"Did you have sex?" Add asked without even lowering his voice. He remembered different genders in a bedroom might have sex. Even Rena warned him to not ever be in the same bedroom with a female that isn't her.
El grabbed Add by the shoulder and forced himself to smile. "There's this thing called 'underaged'. Aisha would be in jail by now if she get caught–"
"I didn't do it!" Aisha got up from her seat and walked away. "Come on, let's go!"
Els and Eve were collecting shattered Dark els across the forest. It might be the source of energy for the random zombies, but who knows? They're getting paid anyway. It might be used for bad intentions, though. Think about it.
They saw familiar figures a few trees away. They tried to hide themselves behind the trees as Eve used her drone on top of the tree to eavesdrop the conversation. Both of them had their earpieces on. Technology is awesome!
Lu and Ciel managed to lure Chung all the way to the forest. He got distracted several times, but they finally got into a quiet place where nobody would hear them. "Hey there. My name is Lu. What's your name?" Lu asked as she squatted down to match the kid's height.
"Chung," Chung answered, but he stared at the horns on her head. He grabbed them and squeezed it, making Lu giggle at his action.
"Ciel, lower it," Lu commanded Ciel to lower his weapon. "This is Ciel, my servant."
Chung stared at the servant. He saw huge floating eyeballs next to Ciel, staring right into his eyes. Ciel greeted the kid to make sure he actually knew which one was the servant.
"Our friends at the school scared you yesterday. Sorry about that," Lu apologized and put her palms together. She was surprised the kid didn't seem to fear her. "They'll be friendly the next time you come. I promise."
"No scary flower?" Chung asked with a scared look. He still remembered clearly what the flower was trying to do to him.
"No more scary flowers. The flower will help you to find your brother instead. How's that sound?" Lu asked back with a smile. She already knew about the siblings, since it happened right in front of the school. She wouldn't miss that.
Chung looked at his left and suddenly smiled. "Els and Eve!" he shouted as he pointed his finger at their hiding spot. He ran toward them, who finally showed themselves. "I'm seeing the blue gem wizard! I know you're here!"
"...Blue gem wizard, huh?" Els smiled and scratched his head in confusion. Who would've thought their hiding spot would be found out because of a ghost that exposed their location?
Lu and Ciel approached them with a smile. "Hm, how surprising. You guys are actually trying to hide yourself," she giggled and snapped her finger. "Even a small kid can find you guys."
"Hey, hey, that's a different case!" Eve disagreed and put her hands on her hips.
Els sighed and picked up Chung's body to let the kid sit on his shoulders. "Let's walk around, Chung. Tell me what you see from up there."
Chung's eyes sparkled as he looked at his surroundings. He was never this tall, so everything from above really excited him. "Walking trees!"
"Give me a bit," Eve said as she called Rose to pick up her brother. She folded her arms and faced the duo demons. "You guys got some… interesting stuff at the school, I guess?"
"Yes, very interesting indeed. Would be nice if you keep quiet about it," Lu smiled, but without any sign of begging or threatening.
"No, I don't think so," Eve giggled and shook her head in disagreement. She found this a very interesting key to a better relationship between Els and El as twins.
"Aw, too bad," Lu pouted, but she didn't insist that Eve keep the information. It confused Eve a bit, but it was reasonable to her. Ain already knew about the whole thing, since she's an angel, so what's the point of keeping quiet? Absolutely nothing! Either El found it out first or Ain spread the words first. In the end, everyone would know about it.
And yes, Lacher already knew about this. It's just that he couldn't really say what it was. He just knew for a fact that Lu has the school in control. But hey, he didn't tell anyone about it. Although… that's exactly the reason why Lu revealed herself to Chung.
"Now what?"
The Quadruplets with extra 2 people were standing in front of the school. They did nothing but stare at it.
"Why is the other me so clueless?" Edward sighed and made his Dynamos float in a vertical line. "Noah, guard it."
"Guard deez nutz. I told you I'm not a guardian," Noah pouted and stood next to the Dynamos.
The small devices scanned the whole school. Huge pink screen surrounding the school appeared like it was analyzing a 3D object. They could even hear the sound of the Dynamos overheating, making a lot of beeps, but not an error message.
Clink!
Noah used his ice ability to freeze the guards around them. While nothing seemed to be happening, Aisha's eyes widened in surprise. No, there was nothing to be seen. She didn't see what Noah was seeing.
"Hm? I feel useless. What do you sense?" El asked Aisha in curiosity. He wasn't used to being clueless, so it was really weird for him to ask around.
"A magic flow, but different. Demon magic," Aisha answered with a forced smile and looked at her friends. "Uhm… I guess Lu was in control all along? She's the only demon in the school."
"Nice flower!"
They turned their faces to a kid's voice from a distance. Chung was running to their direction, but not to approach the group. He saw something else; the "scary flower" that was trying to eat him before was now making a creepy smile and patting his head gently.
"Oh, they found out already. You're late," Lu smiled as she took a few million of EDs from Eve's wallet. They used to bet on a tournament, so why not bet on "will El find it our first or Eve or Els told him first?". Turned out they were late and lost their key for a chance to make El and Els friendlier toward each other.
"I… never heard of 2 Adds. That's interesting," Eve commented, since she didn't know what else to say.
Edward laughed maniacally and stopped his device from scanning. He smirked and faced the students proudly. "The author said there will be no school story. The demons are friendly, there are no plots here!"
Ara screamed and hugged Aisha tightly while crying. "Your sandwich moment is actually a plot! I'm so glad at least one of us will lead this story plot, I can't stop crying!"
"Huh?! No sandwich! What the hell have you been thinking since I graduated?!" Aisha yelled at Ara and smacked her back.
"Friendly demon?" Els repeated and faced Lu, who wasn't even surprised or mad about this.
"Huh, yeah, I own this school to create harmony between humans and demons," Lu said with a smile. She liked it when even El didn't find out this fact. "It's working, right? None of you fear me!"
"Maybe grow taller," Add said bluntly while analyzing the demon.
Lacher woke up late as usual. He felt something was moving under his blanket. It was warm and probably shaped like a human. He moved his blanket away and saw Chung sleeping.
"...Go home," Lacher sighed and got up from the bed. He picked up Chung's body and carried him out of the school.
Chung opened his eyes slowly. He saw a walking huge table lamp with small legs and fat ass, but the lamp part was replaced with an upside down skull with red eyes. "Big bro, what's that?"
"They're all students. Just let them do their things," Lacher answered with a lie and kept walking outside. He already expected a bunch of weird creatures in the school, but he didn't expect them to be this friendly. Especially after they made Chung cry yesterday.
"Hold it!" El rushed toward them and smirked. After all, Chung finally made his way inside and Rena didn't even stop him. "I'm not letting you go away again."
Lacher narrowed his eyes on his roommate. "Leave him out of this."
"Hey Chung, let's play. I know what you're looking for," El lent his hand to the kid and summoned colorful magic runes on his other hand. The fire phoenix flew up to the sky, but this time, he actually summoned it and everyone could see its form. "Its name is Popo. Call it!"
"Popo?" Chung repeated and raised his head to see the phoenix. It roared and spread its fire around without burning anything. The friendly flower was also there, making a creepy smile. The little ball-shaped demons with horns and wings were cheering with joy below the phoenix.
But he remembered what El did yesterday. He wanted to play, but El hadn't shown any friendliness toward him, unlike the flower… even though nobody would know how the flower did it with its creepy smile.
Els and Eve approached them, since they weren't in a rush to report their mission. "He's my brother. Go play with him," Els smiled at Chung.
El disliked that attitude, but it worked. Chung grabbed El's hand and waited for him to do something. See? Els can be useful for once!
"I see. Please make sure he's safe," Lacher said as he turned around and walked away. Of course, he was going to go back to sleep. Who would've thought?
Meanwhile outside the school, there was a small food stand for hangout. "So… Are you guys going to fight? I heard Add killed your mom instead?" Ara asked as she looked at both Add and Edward.
"I'm sorry," Add apologized. He wasn't sure what else to say.
"Forget it. It already happened anyway," Edward shrugged it off like it was a simple matter. His mother was killed and the murderer was in front of him. Sending the murderer to jail would be too much effort and money would be wasted for lawyers. Besides, the murderer had an ability to travel through time and space.
"What did you do before? That looks cool," Aisha asked with curiosity. She had never seen such things from Add. Edward was fully aware of what he was doing unlike Add and she found it very interesting to see. It looked futuristic, yet it was an ancient technology.
"Nothing."
And the answer shocked her. Edward was laughing maniacally while Noah responded with nothing and kept eating his crispy fried squid. "I did absolutely nothing. That was just for show," Edward smiled and stared at the current Triplets; Aisha, Ara, and Add. "I got the mastermind, no? They approached us, thinking something would happen at the school. I was lucky Chung was there for the flower."
"Are… Wait, you're serious," Aisha covered her face with her hands, slowly accepting the truth.
"What? Do I look like a superhuman to you?" Add folded his arms and narrowed his eyes at Aisha. "I was bluffing and making stuff up. I didn't know I actually got it."
Noah faced Add with a confused look. "Then how come you can't bluff with our client and reject their revisions?"
"Shut the f-ck up."
"Where do I find the plot then?" Aisha sighed and placed her head on the table. She hadn't gone anywhere far yet, but it seemed that nothing was making progress. "Are you guys helping again tomorrow?"
"No."
She got a short answer that felt like a stab in the heart. Edward chuckled and explained their reasoning. "We have a job. We don't have time to help the author."
"Your mom can help you," Noah replied with a smile. They would help if they didn't have a job, but hey, money! And yes, finding story plots wasn't a paid job.
"Eeeh? Should we ask Els and Eve?" Ara sighed and looked around to find the couple.
Sadly the couple was still in the school to play with Chung. He didn't feel safe with El alone, so the couple had to be there.
Bang! Bang!
Chung was having fun running around chasing sand seals inside one of the school portals; Secret Dungeon. The reason why these portals exist as a playground was still unknown. The monsters were still harmful, so Els was busy following Chung everywhere to protect him.
On the other hand, El and Eve were competing on who killed the most monsters. Of course, they had to leave some monsters for Chung to play with. "Did you ever find out why these portals exist?" Eve asked with a curious look.
"Hm… No. I'm sure it's related to Lu somehow," El answered as he thought about it. If Lu was actually in charge of the school, then what would these portals mean? "For fun only, I guess."
Els waved his hand at the end of the map while he's carrying Chung on his free arm. El and Eve raced their way to the end of the map and, of course, Eve won it. "Then it's made as it is. I'm having fun here!" Eve smiled and clapped her hands in victory.
"Tree guy said we can find Luto. I want to see!" Chung shouted with excitement without even knowing who or what Luto was. Or what tree guy was.
"...What else did the tree guy say?" El asked and went along with Chung's story. He might be able to get more information.
"Fat seal!" Sadly Chung got distracted by another sand seal. He jumped down and chased the 'fat seal' while Els rushed toward him to kill the trocks.
Let's have a flashback to the day when Aisha, Lacher, and Chung visited Laby's house in the forest. The house was actually a mansion that looked like an abandoned haunted building from the outside. But inside was a different atmosphere; everything was bright and mostly pink colored. It was like candy land, but it can't be eaten.
"Gurumi!" Laby shouted and summoned a lot of pink clouds with smiley faces from the ceilings. The mirror floated around Chung, as if it was playing with him. The kid's eyes sparkled and his smile widened. He let go of Lacher's hand and played with the clouds and the mirror.
"That's interesting! What a change of pace," Aisha smiled and laid down on one of the pink clouds. She had never been so relaxed before.
But too bad, Lacher couldn't relax at all. Even though his little brother was having fun, he had a hard time trusting Laby. In fact, most untrusted people would try to give good things at first, no? "What are you?" Lacher asked one of the questions in his mind.
"Laby is Laby! Laby doesn't know," Laby answered with a sad look. She got sharp ears, but not as sharp as elves. She got pupils like lizards, but she wasn't a lizard. She had the body of a child, but she was older than she looked. What kind of kid is living alone in a forest and actually surviving?
"Relax, Lacher! Look, Chung is playing with an actual being that exists," Aisha pointed to the kid, who was running around to chase the mirror.
"Is Nisha a girl or a boy?" Lacher asked and narrowed his eyes at Laby.
"Nisha is a girl!" Laby answered and raised her hands.
"Where are you going with this?" Aisha got up and looked at Lacher in curiosity. Now she was wondering what he was afraid of.
"Chung said 'them', not 'her'," Lacher said and fisted his hands just in case something was going wrong.
"Kid likes Laby's mirror?" Laby smiled and patted her mirror. "Nisha! Laby told you people will recognize Nisha!"
Chung was confused with something and pulled Lacher's shirt. "Can you see them?"
Chung approached Lacher and grabbed his hand. "Let's play!"
"Sure. Who are we playing with?" Lacher asked, since Laby didn't know any 'them'.
"Nisha and Chase!"
"Chase?" Aisha and Laby asked simultaneously and faced each other.