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?

9. SOZ-Episode 8-A Storyteller's Espionage

It was morning at the academy of magic, with the first hour of education being over with for the students to roam free.

The scene moves outside of Louise's room, where the pink-haired girl is seen outside of her closed door, sweat dropping as she looks at it with a bit of worry for some reason.

(Alright, I didn't see Aristidis when I woke up this morning, so he should be inside now. And that means he is definitely doing something crazy that will cause me quite the shock. Pretty much what happens every morning for some time now.) She thinks, and then slight irritation fills her face. (And I can tell it actually amuses him on the inside every time he sees me like that. Wouldn't surprise me if he is doing it mostly for that very reason.)

Louise grabs the doorknob with determination. (Well, not this time! I am ready for whatever madness is behind this-)

She opens the door before she finishes that sentence in her mind, and what she sees is simply the maids Siesta and Cinderella close to her bed, folding the clothes, which they take one by one from inside a basket as they do so, with Jerry the brown mouse seen eating a large piece of cheese upon the table to the side.

"Eh?" Is all the pink-haired girl can utter confused, not expecting the normality she currently sees inside her room.

The maids notice her, and give her a smile.

"Hey, Louise." Siesta tells her.

"Had a good learning session?" Cinderella asks her.

"Y-Yes..." The pink-haired Noble trails off as she slowly gets over her confusion, and then looks around the room. "Where is Aristidis?"

The black-haired maid looks up as she thinks about it. "Hmm, I don't recall seeing him from the morning I started with my duties at all."

"The Storyteller-" The orange-haired maid begins, drawing their attention. "Is currently inside the academy's library. Last night after the Ball, he asked the principal to allow him access in the forbidden to the students section as reward for the help he offered in the thief's case, to which the principal agreed with without question. He has been in there from the midnight, after you all went to sleep."

"All night?" Siesta asks surprised, with Louise sharing some of her surprise. "Just reading and doing nothing else?"

"You should know by now how much he loves reading." Cinderella says with a laugh and a sweat drop, before continuing normally. "And since he needs no sleep, he decided to spend his time with learning everything about the new knowledge he was allowed to have. Frankly, he was really enthusiastic about it."

"Of course he would." Louise says as she rolls her eyes, and turns around to leave.

The orange-haired maid puts a straight palm at the side of her mouth, to speak a bit louder. "Do you need anyth-"

"Later!" The pink-haired Noble yells with some irritation while off-screen.

The maids look at each other, wondering about what has gotten into her all of a sudden.

Meanwhile, the scene moves inside the library, and then at the forbidden part within where the pitch-black Storyteller Aristidis can be seen placing a book back into its bookshelf, his Tome placed appropriately below his arm, and is already looking for the next book to read, as a calm, relaxing music can be heard being emitted by the small radio box upon the table nearby. [The music is called Sonata No.5 In C Major of Baldassare Galuppi.]

He finds and takes a book that gets his interest, as he lets out a sigh of satisfaction. "Nothing like an entirely new to me book to read and learn from. And with quite the nice cover too." Says the last part as he feels the top cover of the said book with a hand.

Aristidis opens it, and a small note suddenly falls off it, drawing his curious attention.

He picks it up. "Now what could this be here?"

The Storyteller turns it to the side it has the writing, and places it upon the open book on his other hand to read it carefully. "Four Voids... Burning Calamity waking upon the world..."

His expression turns to that of highly gleeful interest. "I-hi-nteresting... Quite interesting and good to have in mind for the future."

Aristidis then hears footsteps, and when he turns his head to check, he notices a serious-looking Louise approaching.

He fully turns around, looking at her with joy. "Ahh, Louise. My cute, wonderful strawberry-haired girl of my life. I would normally speak in a more enthusiastic manner about how much I love seeing your presence, but we are in a library and I must respect at least that-"

Before he finishes that line, the pink-haired Noble grabs him by the wrist and begins pulling him with her away, causing his understandable confusion.

"I think you had enough reading for one day, mister excessive." The serious Louise tells while pulling him. "I can understand I few hours of reading, but this is too ridiculous even for me to accept as normal. Come now, the others are waiting for us outside to pass the time together, and I won't have you spend the entire day inside a library."

Aristidis somewhat troubled looks fast at the book he still holds and then at the shelf he has taken it from while being pulled away, and magically makes it fly there, placing itself appropriately in its original placement with the rest, with him wiping some imaginary sweat off his forehead with an arm as he "Phews" in relief, glad that he didn't just leave without keeping things in order, before officially being moved out.

Not long after, the scene cuts outside at the courtyard, more precisely outside of the Japanese-looking cottage just beside the Spa Zone, where Aristidis, Louise, Tabitha and Kirche can be seen sitting together around a table, and each enjoying a cup of tea, with Siesta standing close to the former two, awaiting for orders like a proper maid.

The redhead lets her cup down and looks at both the Storyteller and the pink-haired Noble with a smile. "Say, you know how in three days begins the summer vacation for us students."

"Really now?" The pitch-black Storyteller questions with some surprising delight, before folding his arms pleased. "That is great! Finally some well-deserved rest from the tiredness the academy's classes can be at times."

The pink-haired Noble raises an eyebrow at him. "You don't even participate in any classes here to complain about."

"There IS one reason to." Aristidis says, then turns to her, and grabs both her hands together with his, while looking at her with big sad-looking eyes. "They are keeping you from spending quality time with me."

Louise can't help but sweat drop at his usual hyperbole, with the rest doing the same while smiling, minus Tabitha.

"Expected." The blue-haired girl says with her usual stoic expression.

"Oh, speaking about it-" Siesta begins as she remembers something, gaining everyone's attention, before turning to the Storyteller with both palms placed together before her with an awkward smile. "Will it be too much trouble allowing me to go visit my family for some time in a few days, Aristidis? Normally at this point of year the academy would be the ones to allow me for that free time, but since I'm not really working for them anymore, well..."

The pitch-black Storyteller lets the pink-haired Noble's hands and turns to the maid with a kind face. "Say nothing more, my dear, of course I will allow you to visit your family anytime you want!"

He then folds his arms while turning his head upward to the side, seemingly serious and offended. "Actually, I feel quite insulted at the very implication of you even thinking that I would say no. The nerve."

The black-haired maid smiles brightly and almost instantly hugs him tightly as she rubs her cheek on his shoulder. "OH, thank you, thank you so much, Aristidis! You're the greatest sweetheart I could ever have!" Says before beginning to kiss him repeatedly everywhere on his cheek.

Aristidis chuckles a bit while filled with pride. "Of course I am."

That scene earns Louise's irritation for a moment, before she turns her head away fast with a "Hmph!"

Kirche that moment coughs fakely to get attention back to her, making Siesta to unhand him while smiling awkwardly at her, but mostly due to how jealous she was at the moment of the maid. "A-Anyway as I was saying, we have decided with Tabitha to visit and stay in her home when that time comes for a day or two."

At the sound of that, a thought comes to the pitch-black Storyteller's mind, before looking at Tabitha.

The blue-haired girl nods at him, making him understand that it is indeed what he realized about that visit.

"Would you like to come along?" The redhead asks the two with a smile. "I hear the scenery around is great!"

Louise likes the sound of that. "That sound nice. Sure, I'll-"

"I think it will be best for you not to come for this one." Aristidis tells her with a serious expression, earning everyone's great confusion.

"Wha- Why?!" The pink-haired Noble asks him in her now immense confusion, trying to understand why would he just deny her that great-sounding visit.

Before anyone says anything, they notice a few men in armor befitting that of a Tristain's Knight being accompanied by some Oblivion Guards toward the group.

They stop as one of them is about to speak while looking at both Aristidis and Louise. "The Nobles Louise Valliere and Ar... Um- Ari..." The man eventually trails off with a sweat drop while having difficulty pronouncing or remembering Aristidis's name.

"Aristidis, but worry not about it, my good man." The pitch-black Storyteller reassures him with a raised palm while being somewhat amused by his try. "In any case, who is asking?"

"The princess." The knight tells him simply.

That catches everyone's immediate attention.

"Alright." Aristidis says before getting up and looks at the pink-haired Noble. "It is either about something important, or about that reward for apprehending the thief. Whatever of the two, we should not leave her Majesty waiting for longer than appropriate, and go meet with her as quickly as possible."

"Obviously!" Louise tells him as she gets up with a serious expression.

The knight nods and extends a palm toward the main gate as he looks at them. "Come. The carriage is waiting for us just outside of-"

"Oh no, we will not be taking the carriage today." The pitch-black Storyteller cuts him off with a side-wagging finger in disapproval. "We will use the car for this."

Everyone is just looking at him, having no idea what that is. "Car?"

Not that long later, the scene cuts at the peaceful, grassy outskirts not far from the academy, till something big suddenly appears as it moves through at high.

The hypothetical camera then moves along with it, showing that something to be a car of some kind, in the colors of black and white, with a guy close to his twenties, brown short hair and modern clothing being the driver, at the seat right next to him sitting the knight in charge from before, who holds his seat greatly frightened due to the surprising to him speed, even though he wears a belt like everyone within the vehicle, while at the back-seats sits an unconcerned Aristidis, with his arms folded and enjoying the ride, and an incredibly surprised Louise, as a famous music plays in the car's radio.

[The driver is Takumi Fujiwara from Initial D, and the music is obviously the Running In The 90s of Maurizio De Jorio.]

"IT MOVES HOW FAST YOU SAID?! She questions the Storyteller with a yell that matches her surprise, after apparently being told about it already.

"Two hundred miles per hour." He tells her somewhat amused at her expected to him reaction. "We will reach Tristania even sooner than the last time."

"Unbelievable... That's even faster than those unicorns with the flaming mane you showed me last time." The pink-haired girl says while trying to comprehend the difference in speed. "And without anything pulling it- How can it even move on its own?!"

"Science!" Aristidis yells gleefully with a raised and tightening fist as he looks upward.

"YOU- Wait, you didn't say magic this time." Louise turns and begins really annoyed just before relaxing when immediately realizing he didn't use the same excuse he usually does instead of explaining in details.

She is still confused about it, though. "What is science?"

The mouthless Storyteller just looks at her with an amused expression.

The pink-haired Noble realizes what that means, and immediately gets upset as she gets close and places her finger at his chest. "Oh no! You will not pull that hard to explain nonsense on me again! You will explain about it and that's that!"

She sits normally on her seat again with her arms folded as she relaxes a bit from the previous outburst. "It can't be as hard as you make it sound."

Aristidis turns his attention forward. "Very well then. But you will have to wait till we have the appropriate time. When we are back at the academy, I will assign one of the best people I know to explain to you about the subject with as many details as possible."

Louise raises an eyebrow. "Why not tell me now yourself while still on the way to the city?"

"Because we will reach before I can finish explaining all the important details, and having to stop myself halfway for any number of reasons, without being allowed to complete a lengthy subject, is both not appropriate, nor something I like." He tells her while appearing absolute about his words, and then moves his eyes toward her. "Also, won't it be better to hear it from a person who is involving himself with such crafts, and more, most of his time, for a more proper experience?"

She just looks at him for a moment, and then turns her attention forward as well. "You have a point. Fine I will wai- Seriously this moves so incredibly fast!" She ends up saying instead of completing the previous sentence, still being too surprised with the car's speed as she witnesses the scenery around moving out of her view like that, much to the Storyteller's amusement with her reaction.

"C-Could we please sl-slow down this thing a bit?" The knight asks as he keeps on holding himself onto his seat tightly, still frightened due to the said car's speed. "W-We don't really n-"

"Not even as a joke." Aristidis cuts him off as he raises his head in disapproval. "If I wanted us to move slower, I wouldn't have chosen the car to begin with."

The knight looks at him with a sweat drop. "Is this about me failing to speak your name properly earlier?"

The Storyteller stays as he is for the moment, and then moves his head close to Louise to whisper, drawing her attention. "Wow, assuming I am THAT petty when the princess is obviously awaiting for our immediate arrival no less. Talk about inappropriate."

She looks at the knight with some contempt. "And he is supposed to be a Chevalier..."

The knight can't help but feel troubled at the two commenting and looking at him like that, especially since they are quite right to do so in this case.

~Some Time Later~At The Royal Palace Of Tristania~

The scene shows Aristidis and Louise standing before princess Henrietta, who was seated upon her throne from the moment she learned about their arrival.

And she appears quite surprised with them. "Louise, Aristidis."

The pink-haired Noble at the moment bends the knee before her Highness.

Henrietta continues. "I can hardly believe the speed of your arrival. Did the ones I sent found you while on your way for the capital or other places close to it?"

"No, the car is simply that fast." The pitch-black Storyteller simply tells her.

The princess looks confused. "The what?"

The still kneeling Louise looks up at her Familiar, and appears somewhat upset as she realizes something. "Aristidis, you're supposed to kneel along with me here, don't be rude before her Highness."

Aristidis looks at her for a moment, and then at Henrietta. "I apologize, but that is not how I work, Louise."

That surprises them both greatly, since they know how much of a gentleman he usually is.

Louise gets up as she turns to him now actually upset. "What do you mean that's not how you work?! Kneeling before royalty shows your respect to them! It is literally common sense for everyone under them! How can you suddenly be so-"

"Not the first time you misunderstand my intentions or way of living." The Storyteller interrupts her, which gets both the girls' confused attention. "I HAVE respect for the princess standing before me. I just choose to show it by standing on my feet instead of kneeling. Why? Because that is what the belief I chose to live with tells me to."

"What?" The pink-haired Noble questions with a raised eyebrow and a slight tilt of her head.

He continues, determination obvious in his eyes. "To stand is to show power, resilience, and your willingness to show you are worthy to do so. Being strong enough to remain standing before any presence, even if that is a literal God, and without averting your eyes from theirs, shows your unbreakable resolve. And that is something any proper ruler can't help but respect themselves. That is what I believe to be the proper way to show true respect toward a ruler, because that way you show they can trust your said resolve, and everything that comes with it."

While saying all that, the spiritual forms of King Leonidas Of Sparta, the mythic Heracles, and a few more important figures of the Ancient Greece can be seen at both sides standing beside him till the end of the speech.

The two remain silent after hearing, and seeing, all that. The powerful-looking figures and his actually inspirational words left them completely speechless.

The pitch-black Storyteller turns to Louise with his hands and Tome now behind the back. "I will not tell you how to show respect toward rulers like our esteemed Majesty here, but I hope you will respect the way I choose to do so myself."

Henrietta stands up and grasps both her hands together as she exclaims softly in a pleased manner, getting their attention. "What a meaningful way to show respect. Your description upon the very concept is truly to be inspired by. Yes, that's how things should be. I will make sure my people slowly adopt that belief of yours as well, allowing them to show me respect in the way you just described instead of kneeling or groveling before me like they always do."

The pink-haired girl is overwhelmed by both the sudden change in the situation AND the princess's decision to accept her Familiar's way of thinking in the matter at such level, with the mouthless Storyteller nodding pleased at Henrietta's decision.

The princess turns to Louise. "That goes for you too, my dear friend Louise. From now on, you are not to kneel before me again in the future."

Louise turns to her fast in attention somewhat troubled. "Y-Yes, your Highness!"

Henrietta prepares her scepter/magic staff and approaches her. "For what I'm to do now I will need you to kneel, though."

The pink-haired girl at first is confused, till she realizes, and with a smile bends one knee down before the princess, as the Storyteller folds his arms while watching with interest.

"As princess and future queen of Tristain, and for your duties in service to me, while also for the kingdom's safety and well-being, I offer onto you, Louise Francoise Le Blanc De La Valliere, the title Chevalier." Henrietta says as she moves her magic scepter appropriately above each of Louise's shoulders, and then pulls it back as she smiles happily at her. "Congratulations, Louise."

Louise stands up, while Aristidis is happily clapping his hands for her at the moment. "Being granted the title Chevalier is a great honor for one such as I."

"For your exceptional work at capturing the well-known thief who has been harassing our people for some time now, you deserve as much." The princess tells her, and then turns to the pitch-black Storyteller. "And of course I can't forget about you, Aristidis. I will also grant you-"

"Putting into consideration the understandably obvious knowledge that I have control over powerful beings and people which include kings, emperors and more, along with innumerable worlds and realities through my Tome, effectively making me a complete ruler among rulers, I am sure that whatever you have for me will definitely not be something that will be like demoting me, causing me to take offense to that." Aristidis interrupts her with a way too clear explanation and a happy expression.

The two just look at him with eyes wide open in shock, never really having considered the fact that with everything he possesses, he is technically an actual ruler!

And Henrietta was about to grant the title Chevalier, a title for honored yet Lesser Nobles, onto another ruler, who is also pretty much far above her. What an absurd offense that would've been!

The princess smiles fast, but quite awkwardly. "O-Obviously! After all, who would even think of offending someone as important as you in such an inappropriate manner?" Says before she starts laughing awkwardly, which causes Aristidis to laugh seemingly amused, with Louise sharing the princess's awkward laugh while understanding that she just dodged a very big metaphorical bullet there, much to her relief.

Henrietta stops her awkward laughing and clears her throat as she focuses/calms herself, before smiling normally and extending a face-down hand toward him. "I have no titles or anything special enough to offer for a person of your importance, so I hope this to be adequate enough."

The pink-haired girl appears alright with the princess's decision of a reward, seeing it as an understandable move as she nods to herself.

In the meantime, the mouthless Storyteller is just staring at the expecting to be kissed hand for a moment, and then appears slightly puzzled as he sweat drops, before pointing at his mouthless area. "Um- You understand I don't have a mouth for this, right?"

Both girls look at him wide eyed once more, having totally forgotten that he has no mouth to use.

Henrietta somewhat retreats her hand as she takes a step back, highly troubled at the thought that she just racially offended him. "A- I-I am so sorry, I did not mean to-"

"It's alright, it's alright, I do not really mind." Aristidis interrupts as he calms her down somewhat amused while moving closer, and takes her hand while bending enough to bring it close to his face.

"I can always simply pretend for you, your generous Majesty." He says somewhat seductively with a wink of his eye, causing her to blush softly, before he puts the mouthless area upon the backside of the said hand while making a loud kissing sound, which surprises the two girls for a moment due to not expecting the said sound.

After Aristidis finishes, he lets her hand and walks back right beside Louise like before. "Your rewards and overall appreciation are highly appreciated by both me and Louise, and always know that if there is anything you need again in the future from us, we will be more than happy to offer our exceptional assistance."

"Y-Yes, exactly what he said." The pink-haired Noble agrees in a clumsy manner while trying to make an impression before the princess, which is difficult due to how fast her Noble of a Familiar is when it comes to that.

Henrietta smiles happily. "What a coincidence! I was actually going to ask for a favor from the two of you, to tell you the truth."

That catches both their attention, wondering what her Highness needs from them so soon.

"Of course, anything you want, your Highness!" Louise says, determined to help in whatever way possible and prove herself.

"Name it." The pitch-black Storyteller simply tells her Majesty.

The princess is happy with both her friends' willingness to help. "I would like the two of you to live in the city for a short time."

"Live in the city?" The pink-haired girl repeats the words confused.

"Like tourists?" Aristidis asks her Majesty, before the scene shows him now wearing a yellowish straw hat, which appeared upon his head when no one was looking. "Because we have already seen the city that way once. Not that I would mind doing it again."

"I would say more like secret informers." Henrietta tells them, while she wonders when did he put on that hat.

Both understand what she means, as the Storyteller puts his hat behind of his luxurious cape.

"You want us to spy on the city?" Louise asks her, unsure as to why the princess would want that.

"Yes." The princess answers, and then her expression turns to that of concern and slight frustration. "I have heard rumors that some aristocrats are oppressing commoners. But when I asked, all they said was that the aristocrats are role model for commoners, so no such thing would happen."

Aristidis points at her with a bored expression. "First of all, the way that line was most likely expressed, makes the whole thing really suspicious. The dirty-kind, which is so obvious that even a blind/noseless individual would be able to notice, no less. And lastly, knowing the many examples found in the different stories within my Tome, and with the general opinion some braver commoners told me to have about the current state of aristocracy here, along with how much of a Dark Ages Theme the overall world appears to be, I can assure you that the rumor is definitely not just a rumor, but an ugly reality."

Henrietta lowers her head saddened, as Louise finches from surprise at her Familiar's words. "So it is indeed like I suspected in the end..."

The pink-haired girl doesn't want to believe that people of the respected aristocracy like her abuse their authority to have their way with the lower classes, but cannot deny Aristidis's abundant knowledge, nor the past event involving the academy's headmaster, Count Mott, and Siesta, which saddens her as well.

The princess thinks about it for a moment with a hand on her chin, while calming herself a bit. "Even if that's the case though, nothing can be really done without any actual proof. But, if we could catch at least one of those Nobles in the act, I could push for further investigations with little to no resistance from the Nobles of the palace who might be against it for a number of reasons."

She raises her head and looks at the two with determined expression. "May I count on you to help me with the case? It will not be an easy task as you can understand."

"Of course we will help you, your Highness!" Louise immediately tells her absolutely determined, before putting a hand upon her chest with a proud smile. "No matter how difficult one task is, we can handle it."

Aristidis nods in agreement and then looks at the princess with a kind face. "You may as well consider it done already."

Henrietta smiles. "Thank you."

She walks close to a nearby table, and takes a rolled parchment tied with a red fabric and the royal seal stuck upon it, before going back to them as she extends it toward Louise. "Here is an Official Order I have prepared for you, so there can be no doubts about whose orders you fulfill."

The pink-haired Noble takes a hold on it and nods respectfully at her.

The princess continues. "With this, you're ready. Go now, and may you come back successful."

"We will." The pitch-black Storyteller says casually as he turns with a graceful flip of his cape and walks toward the exit, with Louise noticing, before bowing fast to Henrietta and going as soon after him.

"Oh, and Aristidis." The purple-haired royal calls for him, which makes both him and the pink-haired Noble to stop and turn to her, before smiling brightly. "Thank you for the Cocoa Seeds as well. I look forward seeing them grow into the trees you showed us in your Tome."

Aristidis winks and points at her. "And the expected sweet production, no?"

Henrietta decides to wink at him as well. "Goes without saying."

The pitch-black Storyteller laughs for a moment at that. "Ah~, I always appreciate meeting people like you. Have a good day, your Majesty." Says as he waves his hand at her while turning along with Louise to leave from the throne room.

The two then are seen walking through one of the many hallways of the palace as they are still on their way, with him walking just a few steps in front of her, with Aristidis feeling quite enthusiastic about, while Louise appears to contemplate about something that just came to her mind.

"How great this is! My charming sweetheart has received the title of Chevalier!" He says happily, and then gasps as he thinks of something that instant. "This totally deserves a party after we are done with our current duty."

"Before that-" Louise says after having finished with her current thought, which makes her have a somewhat upset expression, before deciding to run past him and stop right in front of him, causing him to stop as well. "Something you still didn't explain to me. What is the reason you don't want me to come along with you and the rest at Tabitha's house?"

Aristidis just looks at her for a moment with his now neutral expression, till he decides to lean forward and bring his face close to her ear, with his sudden secrecy making her wonder. "There is a specific individual there, which I don't want you to see."

The pink-haired girl utters in surprise upon hearing that.

"But because I promised, I cannot tell you important details about their case." He continues. "In short, I am supposed to heal that individual eventually. The problem is, that I still have trouble finding someone in the Tome who can both do it AND be able to be summoned early, which is not a simple matter with my current magical level, so the said search is quite the chore."

The pitch-black Storyteller puts both his hands on her shoulders as he looks at her with sad eyes. "I know you are a brave girl who can handle most things, but I want you to understand that I don't want to risk you ending up somehow seeing them the way they are. The story behind it is already too sad as it is. And seeing you hurt because of it will break my heart."

Hearing all that, makes Louise both understand now the reason he wants her to stay out of this, and feel bad with the way he expressed the last part.

Still, for her to think that such a matter was going on... Just who that person in need in Tabitha's house is?

Aristidis unhands her and straightens himself up while putting both hands, and Tome, on his hips. "Now, is it understood and respectable the reason I want you to not come along for that one trip till I deal with the said issue?"

The pink-haired Noble nods in understanding.

"Good." He says satisfied, before starting to walk forward like before, with Louise following just as soon and right beside him. "Now as for the party I was talking about for later after our mission, and after the science explanation you are to receive, I was thinking as a starter to have some Pizza while watching a nice movie marathon in our TV, and later enjoy a nice cup of ice-cream."

"Ok, I know about ice-cream, but what exactly is a pi-zza?" She asks confused, and then raises an eyebrow. "Also that mo~vie marathon. Is it like, a story about running, or..."

"YOU, are SO going to love that party." Aristidis tells her with much of joy, and then begins giggling as he moves, with Louise stopping on walking for a moment while looking at him as she wonders about, before her hidden enthusiasm kicks in and goes once more after him, while feeling impatient about the new exciting things he is most definitely going to show her later like he said, and like he usually does.

Not long after the two leave the palace, they are seen walking at one of the many roads of Tristania, with Louise walking a few steps in front of him, while Aristidis appears to be reading something from his open Tome.

"Alright, Louise-" He begins while keeping his attention upon the Tome as they walk. "I already have a plan to appropriately set in motion. All we have to do is sit back, go merrily enjoy our time in a nice place, and do nothing else as my Tome personnel take care of everything else for-"

"No!" She interrupts him with a serious expression, which causes him to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "We are not just going to let your subjects-"

"Tome subjects." The Storyteller corrects her with a raised finger.

The pink-haired Noble continues despite the interruption. "Do all the work for us, while doing nothing ourselves."

Aristidis folds his arms. "You can't really call the spending of quality time together as nothing."

She stops as she turns to him, with him stopping as well, her expression now both serious with a slight irritation obvious. "You know very well what I meant, Aristidis. The princess has given this mission for us to fulfill, so it is only understandable that WE are to do it."

"Still-" The mouthless Storyteller begins. "Using the help of people associated to you in anything, technically counts as your accomplishment as well, due to the fact you put them into doing it in the first place. Plus, it is easier."

"I am not here to simply use one of the many outrageously easy solutions on whatever situation is to be dealt with, which you pretty much always offer for our constant comfort." Louise tells him before turning again forward, with both hands on her hips while looking determined. "I am here to bring results like the proper Noble I am, and like her Highness expects from the both of us."

She looks around fast, and then points at a clothing store. "And I say we have to blend in by dressing like commoners, so we can draw as little attention as possible on us as a start."

Without saying anything more, Louise begins running toward the shop, leaving behind her a very confused Storyteller.

Aristidis puts a sideward palm beside his mouth to yell better. "Alright, we will do it your way, suit yourself! Literally!" Says before chuckling somewhat amused at his own pun, which makes the pink-haired girl to stop as she groans annoyed toward the sky for a moment because of it, but almost as soon continues on running again.

When she enters the building, the pitch-black Storyteller lifts his open Tome to start reading again. "Well, while she is away, I will make that small arrangement I was planning for."

After saying that, he turns around a nearby corner, and begins walking away.

~Minutes Later~

The scene shows Louise just coming out of the building, wearing a dirty dark-brown, bland dress, with a matching beret on her head, and an unimpressed expression on her face, which makes obvious the fact she doesn't like what was suggested to her for what she asked.

"Wow." A voice is heard saying beside her, and when she turns to see who it was, she notices looking at her while standing with his back upon the wall and with his arms folded, a tall, thin person with somewhat pale skin and brown messy hair, wearing a red collar-like scarf, which is pulled upward enough to cover both his mouth and nose, green shirt and trousers with a simple dirty black belt around the waist, brown boots, and carrying a brown bag placed behind at his back.

"That outfit doesn't suit you at all." He tells her, but then pulls a thumb up pleased. "Great choice!"

Louise turns and points at him upset. "Wh-Who do you think you're to talk to me in such a-"

She quickly stops herself as soon as she takes a more careful look at his very expressive eyes, and the sound his voice made, before appearing utterly surprised. "Aristidis?"

"The one and only." He says while moving his head upward with pride, before moving himself in front of her and points a finger at her, his expression now neutral. "And let me tell you, your act could use a bit of work. You want to convince people about you being a genuine commoner after all, no?"

The pink-haired girl ignores his words as she keeps on focusing at his surprising to her complete change in appearance. "H-How did you-"

"I can shapeshift, remember?" Aristidis points out with a raised eyebrow.

"Well yes, but... The skin... The hair...!" She says while attempting to form proper sentences in her still great confusion.

Aristidis folds his arms somewhat offended. "Different colorations and body-hair are not out of my capabilities, you know. Do I look like Aku to you?"

He then pulls down with a hand his red scarf to show his still mouthless face. "Still not able to make a mouth, though." Says before covering it with the said scarf again.

Louise is wide eyed as she process the new information, while also wondering who Aku is, and then sweat drops as she snaps out of her surprise. "Well, at least this makes things simpler than saying you're a very rare case of a pitch-black Germanian, like I was thinking of doing."

She finds completely her composure back as she looks satisfied at him. "Anyway, now that we have our disguises, we can move around more freely without being too obvious."

"Alright, but-" The disguised Storyteller begins, drawing her confused attention. "There is something important I have to ask before we begin anything."

He turns around to show his all of a sudden enlarged now butt. "Does this fabric makes my backside look fat?"

An amused snort escapes Louise that moment which she fails to stop with her hands, making obvious her amusement at how silly the entire thing looks.

She then shakes the said amusement off her, and looks at him seriously. "Don't goof around with your shapeshifting like that! We are in a serious mission, remember?"

Aristidis's butt resizes back to normal, along with the trousers, and turns toward her again with both hands behind his back as he chuckles amused a bit. "Sorry."

Louise sighs at his current childish behavior, before she turns her serious attention the other way at the road ahead. "Before anything else, we should find us a horse."

The disguised Storyteller stays as he is for a moment, but then looks at her confused. "Eh?"

She turns to him. "You know, to move around the city easier. And of course we have to find a nice hotel to stay in for when we need to sleep properly."

Aristidis just looks at her for a moment longer, which confuses her as to why he looks at her like that, and then with wide open eyes comes to the realization. "Goodness, you actually mean it."

With a serious expression he grabs Louise by the shoulders with both hands and moves her fast around the building's corner, much to her now troubled confusion, before letting her down when reaching its more remote location, and placing his hands on his hips. "Louise, what in the world?"

"Wh-What?" She asks while trying to understand what she did so wrong without realizing to upset her Noble of a Familiar.

The disguised Storyteller begins. "Alright, bring that into your mind for a moment. How many commoners you know who have enough money to pay for whatever any Noble is able to."

Louise opens her mouth as if to say something about it, but then gives it a better thought before finally realizing the obvious mistake. "Oh."

Aristidis folds his arms. "If anyone sees the both of us able to just pay easily for whatever, they will immediately suspect us. Worst case scenario, they will think of us as overly successful bandits, and either come after us, or call the guards to come after us, which I don't need to say how bad it will be for us."

He turns his back on her as he looks at the buildings and people ahead. "This mission demands utmost secrecy for it to have the appropriate results, so doing things that would cause even the slightest suspicion is a no-no. That means no horse, and definitely no hotels obviously exclusive to aristocracy." Says at the last part while wagging sidewardly a raised finger.

"Aww!" The pink-haired girl exclaims at him in a highly displeased manner.

The disguised Storyteller turns to her again with a neutral expression. "You don't really have to force yourself with this, you know."

His expression then turns joyous as he pulls from below a small blackboard, which depicts with chalk on it the two of them at a table with drinks, happy faces, and a heart above them in the middle. "We can always simply go with my first plan and enjoy a good time in the city while my people are taking care of things in our stead instead."

Louise's eyes widen for a moment at the sound of that, and then looks at him with a serious expression once more. "I believe I said that this is a mission for US to complete. I just got things mixed up for a moment in my head, that's all."

She moves closer and puts her finger accusingly upon his chest, causing him to raise his hands somewhat troubled. "So forget about lazing around, and forget about letting other people do the work we are supposed to do ourselves!"

The pink-haired girl folds her arms as she quickly turns her back on him with a frustrated pout. "Who cares about a good bed anyway." Says quietly to herself.

Aristidis looks at her for a moment, wondering about the reason of her insistence, and then shrugs as he tosses the small blackboard behind him with a kind expression. "Very well, if that is what you wish."

He moves fast in front of her, gaining her attention, looking at her now with a somewhat enthusiastic face. "Anyway, since the mission requires us to be secretive, meaning using our actual names is a bad idea, I came up with different names for us to use."

Louise somewhat tilts her head with a raised eyebrow. "Names?"

The disguised Storyteller continues as he puts a hand upon his chest. "My name from here on will be Henry, so better make sure you repeat it enough times in your mind to not get confused and say my actual one when people are around."

"A-Alright." She agrees with understanding while a bit unsure about the name-thing. "What about mine?"

"Your name will be Lucy." He tells her, and then shrugs. "I thought it will be better for you to have a name closely resembling your actual one, so it can both be easier to remember for the both of us, and safer for the case we accidentally get them mixed up, by pretending otherwise."

"Oh I see, that's smart!" Louise says impressed with the whole idea, but now appears unsure about another thing. "Now what is the next?"

Aristidis turns around and begins walking away, with her going fast beside him to walk together. "Now we are going straight to one of the places most likely to gather people at any day. The City Square."

~Not Long After~At The City Square~

The two are seen standing there together at the edge of the City Square, where a working fountain is seen at its middle, with multiple people walking or/and chatting about in the said area.

The disguised Storyteller was very pleased with what he was seeing around them, before leaning sideward toward the pink-haired girl to whisper. "A properly crowded area. Just as expected during times of day like this."

"Good, then let's go begin with the questioning." She says as she is about to begin walking forward, but Aristidis stops her by placing a hand on her shoulder and pulling her slowly back beside him again.

"Now, now, let us not be hasty here." He tells her. "It will be suspicious if you just go and get straight to the point with this, resulting in people either being dishonest due to them not feeling safe, or simply avoiding you for the same reason."

Louise looks at him with annoyance, starting to get quite tired with him pretty much keeping on telling her that her ways are wrong. "Then how are we supposed to ask them, Mr. Know it all."

"Well, my extremely lovable girl-" Aristidis begins gleefully while bringing her closer to him, causing her to groan quietly from frustration at seeing him making one of his usual moves on her. "All we need to do is simply bring it up during a normal conversation with a person or group we are to approach. That way we can both have results, AND keep ourselves appropriately covered from suspicions."

As much as she dislikes being bossed around like that, she can't help but admit that his ideas are too good to just ignore.

The disguised Storyteller unhands her as he begins looking around once more with a sideward palm above his eyes, till he notices something ahead that pauses him for a moment. "I say we begin with that overly-homophilic suspicious-looking man that appears to be coming for us."

"Eh?" The pink-haired girl utters confused at the odd description, before looking at where he does to notice approaching them in a flamboyant manner a tall, muscular man with black short hair, long pointy mustache, short pointy beard, and thick red lips, wearing a short skin-tight purple tank-top that keeps his belly uncovered, dark-blue shorts, and white boots.

After reaching them, he stops in front of them, and starts moving his hips while holding both his hands together in joy as he looks mostly at the pink-haired girl. "Tres bien! What a cute face you have! You two seem to be in need of an assistance of some kind with the way you look around like that, no?"

Aristidis remains neutral, while Louise raises an eyebrow at the strange man's behavior, with a few people's attention being drawn toward the three as they pass by.

"As you can see, I'm not a suspicious person at all." The flamboyant man says as he now moves his now extended to the side hands up and down as if dancing in place while keeping on moving his hips in the same rhythm.

As Louise is thinking about how ridiculously suspicious the man appears to her, the disguised Storyteller moves forward and grabs his hand with his own, much to both the weird man's and the pink-haired girl's surprise at the sudden move, and then begins moving it up and down into a normal handshake while showing a happy face. "What a gosh darned coincidence, we aren't as well! Nice to meet you!"

The pink-haired girl gets even more surprised at her Familiar's sudden change in mannerism.

Aristidis unhands the man's hand as he moves back beside Louise, before placing a thumb upon his own chest. "My name is Henry, and was actually quite popular back at our village. Really loved when people were saying things with enthusiasm like: Good day, Henry! Hello, Henry! Hey, Henry has come to see us! and more."

He then looks upward to the sky above the buildings in longing manner. "It was a nice life back at the village."

Both the man and Louise look at him for a moment in wonder, for different reasons each, till he seemingly snaps back to reality, and puts an arm around her shoulder as he pulls her close to him. "And this is Lucy, my cute little sister." Says at the end before joyfully pinching her cheek with a hand.

That makes her blush heavily from embarrassment, before slapping his hand and pushing him off her. "Wh-What do you think you're doing in front of-"

"Always so shy in front of strangers." Aristidis interrupts her as he speaks to the man with delight. "Gotta love when she tries to look tough."

"I can imagine, I can imagine." The flamboyant man says in response while nodding and putting both hands at his cheeks in delight with the thought.

Louise growls, really upset at obviously being treated like a child.

"How nice meeting such a friendly face!" The man tells him with a happy spin around himself, before winking at the disguised Storyteller. "I'm Scarron by the way, proud owner of an inn called The Charming Fairy."

Aristidis puts a hand on his covered chin, with the pink-haired girl appearing to calm down a bit as she keeps on looking at him with irritation, appearing somewhat thoughtful about it. "Can't say I've heard of it myself."

"OH, it is just the most lovely place!" Scarron tells to the disguised Storyteller as he brings his delighted face closer to his with both hands placed together. "So, do you happen to be looking for a place to stay, you two?"

That catches their attention, with the disguised Storyteller looking at him with delight once more. "You offering?"

The flamboyant man lifts a finger. "On one condition, though."

He then points at Louise. "You."

"Hu- Me?" Louise asks confused as she points at herself.

"Yes, dear, you!" Scarron responds before retreating his arm. "I'm a bit short on workers, so I will need you to work at the inn and serve the people that are to come. And a cute face like yours is bound to bring more in!" Says at the end while crouching down with both hands upon his cheeks again extremely delighted.

"Serve people?!" She yells both surprised and insulted at the mere thought of her, a Noble, serving commoners.

Aristidis appears thoughtful about the deal as he looks at him. "When you say serve?"

"Like going from table to table serving orders, or keeping company to some of the customers that may request it." The man tells him as he points out simply her job, and then wags a raised finger sidewardly. "Nothing actually obscene, I assure you."

He then points at the disguised Storyteller. "And you can give a hand at washing the dishes."

Aristidis folds his arms with an obvious satisfied expression. "Ah I see, no problem then, we agree."

Scarron makes a happy spin as he hugs himself, while the pink-haired girl looks at Aristidis shocked. "Tres bien!"

Louise really upset grabs and pulls with both hands the disguised Storyteller by the upper part of the shirt down and closer to her. "EXCUSE M-"

He stops her that moment by grabbing her by the shoulders, startling her, and then pulling her fast backward with him a few steps away from the flamboyant man, much to the said man's confusion, before bringing his head close to whisper in her ear. "This is a great opportunity that has just arised for us, Louise! Our mission demands we gather information from people, and what better way than speaking with many different people that ask you to approach them continuously! The chances of us finding out what we want now are tremendous! We will complete the said mission so fast thanks to this, that there is absolutely no way the princess will not be impressed with us two."

She remains stunned for a moment as she process everything her Familiar just said, before thinking about it more logically, and understanding how much once again one of his ideas makes sense. Still doesn't quite like the thought of her serving commoners, though.

Aristidis unhands her as he lifts a thumb up toward Scarron. "Don't worry, everything's good here! You can take us straight to the inn whenever!"

"With much of pleasure, Henry and Lucy!" Scarron tells them pleased, before turning and signing them with a hand to follow. "This way."

With that, the two begin going along with the flamboyant man on the way to the inn he owns.

Scarron looks at the disguised Storyteller as they walk. "So tell me, Henry, from which village you and your sister come from exactly?"

"The name is..." Aristidis trails off as his expression seems to pause for a moment, before putting a hand on his chin while appearing to be unsure, worrying Louise quite a bit. "Actually not sure. Our village is a REALLY distant one, close to Germania's borders to be exact, and has the most confusing tradition of changing its own name every year for some unknown reason. Should be called Skalitz now, if not wrong."

The pink-haired girl is shocked by what her Familiar decided to say of all things. It must be one of the most outrageous and hyperbolic excuses she ever heard of! She wonders how can he even think that something like that is even believable?!

"Sounds like quite a confusing tradition indeed..." The flamboyant man agrees with a sweat drop forming on his head at hearing the strangeness of the said village, with Louise being in great disbelief at the fact he actually believed it. "But why leave the village and come such a long way here to Tristania? Was there a special reason you two left, or..."

"Much to my frustration, yes, there was." The disguised Storyteller answers him while appearing to be mildly upset. "See, our father was a blacksmith, and a really darn good one at his job. He was tasked to build a sword of top quality for a Noble that requested his services, who paid in advance due to the father's decent reputation. But just a few hours before the time of the said Noble's arrival, a different, more wicked-looking Noble came to our village, with the intent to buy a different sword, only to trick father into giving the quality one to him without even realizing for a lot less, somehow having it switched with the far simpler blade when he was not looking. The former Noble was furious when he learned that the sword was not there for him to take, with his anger only increasing with father's explanations, calling them nothing more than excuses. Of course, because the money was already spent for the different needs of the forge, the family was forced into a heavy debt by the Noble."

Aristidis lowers his sight toward the ground, seemingly sad. "It caused a lot of troubles in our everyday life. Not enough to feed four mouths, that's for sure."

Scarron was getting emotional with teary eyes while holding both hands over his mouth at the sad story, with Louise as well getting somewhat emotional by her Familiar's story, even though she knows it is fabricated.

The disguised Storyteller continues as he straightens his sight again and with more determination. "With that in mind, I made the decision to take Lucy with me, and travel here to Tristania so we can make life for our parents easier, and find a job here to support ourselves, in hopes it will eventually help us go back home with enough money to clear our debt for good."

"What a sad story!" The flamboyant man says overwhelmed by emotion as he now hold a handkerchief with both hands, before blowing his nose upon it, and then hugging strongly, the somewhat taller, Aristidis. "It must have been a really hard decision to make. So noble of you to want to help your parents like that!"

"Frankly, it was." The disguised Storyteller tells him, while Scarron continues weeping about upon his shoulder, and then turns to Louise with a raised thumb and winks at her mischievously, which makes her sweat drop at the fact he takes much more pleasure in deceiving the now emotional man than necessary.

"I will make sure to be as generous as I can with the two of you, I promise." Scarron tells him as he finishes with the few seconds weeping, and then retreats himself a bit from the disguised Storyteller, still having his hands upon his shoulders, and then takes a looks at the scarf as he begins wondering about it. "Oh, also something I wanted to ask from the beginning. What the scarf around your nose and mouth for, my boy? It is not even a cold season."

The disguised Storyteller takes aholds of his scarf that moment, seemingly to check if it is properly covering him. "Oh, this. I have a disease."

Upon hearing that, Scarron moves away fast while looking at him as he screams for a moment, highly scared and troubled at being afflicted by a possibly dangerous case, while also incredibly shocking Louise as to WHY use such an actually awful excuse.

"Not contagious, not contagious!" Aristidis starts yelling at him seemingly troubled, before relaxing as he is about to explain. "It's the hereditary kind. It affects mostly us of the family. To someone outside of it will cause at most nausea for a day or two, which is the reason I cover half my face. If I don't directly breath on you, you will not have trouble, that's what the village's physician said himself, yes."

"O-Oh, I see, that's good to know." The flamboyant man says, before awkwardly laughing at the fact, but also uttering in a whisper to himself "That was so scary..."

The pink-haired girl sighs in relief that he was able to convince the man, but still it was such a risky move from him to use a sickness as an excuse of all things!

The disguised Storyteller then puts a hand upon her head, drawing her attention, as he looks at her kindly. "So far Lucy has not shown any of the disease's symptoms. Who knows, maybe she'll be lucky enough not to in the end at all and live without worries like she deserves."

Louise blushes softly as she is emotionally moved by the sincerity and kindness of his words, till she snaps out of it with wide open eyes as soon as she remembers that the disease and everything right now is a part they play for the mission. For a slight moment there she actually believed their role as real, due to how naturally her Familiar acted during all of this!

(By Brimir, he is so good at this that it's terrifying.) She eventually says in her thoughts with a cold sweat on her head.

~Not Long Later~

The three eventually reach the place called The Charming Fairy Inn, where they will have to work at, for now.

It is a pretty decent-looking building and environment, with multiple girls, which Scarron refers to as Fairies, in maid-like uniforms of different colors, and with quite short skirts, being the inn's workers.

Louise herself was before them, wearing a white variation of the girls' uniform, and appearing very awkward about.

As Scarron introduces Lucy to the Fairies, speaks of the siblings' story, and demands the girls to call him Mi-Mademoiselle at work, Aristidis, who was wearing a full apron along with the scarf now, was watching her from a medium distance with the corner of his eye as he was helping behind the counter with the dishes another girl with long black hair, and big chest, who was dressed in a full apron like his.

He can't help but chuckle a bit amused while bringing his focus completely back at the cleaning task.

"Is cleaning dishes fun for you, or something nice catched your eye, tall guy?" The girl next to him asks in a playful and slightly sarcastic manner with a smile.

The disguised Storyteller turns to her. "Just my little sister being awkward about. But I can pay some more attention to you if you'd like." Says at the end somewhat seductively and with a wink.

She chuckles a bit at that. "Quite the smooth talker, aren't you? I'm Jessica."

"The name's Henry, nice to meet you, Jessica." He tells her with a jolly expression.

"A nice name you have, Henry." Jessica takes a look at the still awkward pink-haired girl. "And a really cute little sister too."

"Isn't she?" Aristidis asks rhetorically, and quite delighted. "Makes you want to pamper her."

He then sighs somewhat sad as he faces the dirty plates before him. "Too bad we don't have even that little luxury to do so anymore..."

The black-haired coworker feels bad with the way he said that last part, understanding that the story behind it must be rather unfortunate in case it's not worse.

She puts a hand on his shoulder with a smile. "Would you like to share your story while working?"

He looks at her, and then nods.

~A Somewhat Quick And Supposed Explanation Later~

"Hereditary disease you say?" Jessica asks him surprised.

"Like you hear." Aristidis tells her, before looking up as he appears to recall, while in the background, work for the rest appears to have started officially. "Every member of the family to ever exist had and has it. If I accidentally breath on an outsider like you, you will feel dizzy and have an upset stomach for two days at most."

He then shrugs his shoulders as he continues wiping a plate he holds with a cloth. "Still better than how it affects US."

"Really now?" She questions him, having caught her interest. "What it does to YOU exactly? You don't really look that bad to me."

Aristidis lets the now clean plate to the side and starts counting his fingers. "Well, it makes the skin more pale than normal, as you can see by mine, makes your body more thin than normal, again obvious by mine, and as if the rest of the symptoms were not enough already, it also disfigures your chest, belly, AND back WAY too awfully to wanna look at." Says the last part with an obvious cringe on his face as he looks away for a moment.

"Sounds nasty..." Jessica trails off with a sweat drop as she thinks about the awful condition she just heard about, but still feels too curious to not listen more. "What are the other symptoms?"

He continues. "Also causes continual coughing at the slightest coldness, cramps at places I shouldn't name, and aggressive behavior that can happen randomly for some weird reason."

That moment they hear a commotion at one of the tables which draws their attention, and see the pink-haired girl shouting angrily at a customer for some reason, just before Scarron intervenes to fix the situation.

"Like that as an example?" Jessica asks the disguised Storyteller with a cunning smile.

Aristidis simply shakes his head before turning to her. "No, no, that's just her way of being either lazy or insulted. We were truly pampering her way too much back at the day when everything was still fine."

He looks at the still irritated Louise as she comes behind the counter to take a big bottle of alcohol, before leaving again to get back to work. "Thinking about it, we were probably TOO nice to her and should've prepared her better for the future. Not that we could know that debt-thing would happen." Says the last part as he folds his arms and lowers his head seemingly frustrated.

The black-haired coworker feels somewhat troubled at seeing him like that and smiles awkwardly as she moves in front of him with raised hands in calming attempt. "L-Let's not think about it, Henry, things will get better for you two, I'm sure. How about a change in subject, eh?"

Aristidis stays like that for a moment, and then relaxes as he turns to her. "Sure. Told you about mine, so how about telling me a little about you and your family?"

She smiles amused at that, having in mind of what face he will make at a certain fact.

~A Quick Chat Later~

The disguised Storyteller has an eyebrow raised. "Wait, THE Scarron that we've met is your father, you say?"

Jessica nods while feeling amused enough at the understandable reaction.

He stays silent for a moment, and already forms many theories in his mind about it. "Alright, now I have to know. Was he like this before or after you came to be?"

She begins. "Actually-"

That moment they hear another commotion that interrupts Jessica, before they see it's the pink-haired girl once more angrily shouting at a customer, who upsetted her in some way like the last few ones.

Aristidis's eyes get serious while looking at the scene, and his eyes flash yellowish-green for a second.

The black-haired coworker turns to him somewhat worried now, having no reason at this point not to believe his story, along with the disease part. "Are you sure it is not-"

"No." The disguised Storyteller interrupts her. "Trust me, I would know if it was because of the disease that she acts like-"

Just before he explains more, the customer Louise was shouting at falls off his chair as he holds his stomach with a hand, drawing attention, and as he is on all three upon the floor, he pukes on it, much to everyone's surprise and concern.

As the said man was complaining in a semi-quiet manner about feeling unwell, with Scarron moving fast close to check on him troubled, Aristidis stays as he is for a moment, and then alone steps out of the counter and approaches the pink-haired girl, who sees him as soon as he stops beside her.

He turns to the inn's flamboyant owner. "Owner, make sure to have someone take this man to a physician if possible. You'll also have to excuse me, but me and Lucy will need to use our free time early for an important matter." Says to him as he looks at her seriously, causing her worry with the way he said that last part, as she wonder if it is about her obvious outbursts.

"O-Ok." Scarron agrees somewhat clumsily due to the boy's sudden seriousness.

The disguised Storyteller then turns and heads toward the counter while signing to Louise with a finger to follow, which she does so a bit reluctantly.

After walking upstairs and going inside the simple room, which the flamboyant owner gave them as promise for their services, he closes the door behind them as the pink-haired girl sits upon the mattress.

"D-Did you do that?" She asks him somewhat uncomfortable. "With the man."

Aristidis folds his arms with a raised eyebrow. "You think of me incapable of such thing?"

Louise almost immediately shakes her head, giving up the thought of how impossible that is due to knowing better than that when it comes to her Familiar.

"Now to immediately get the why out of the way-" The disguised Storyteller begins. "As it is specifically because I noticed your incredibly, with all the meaning of the word, poor performance of acting like a commoner. When others were barely hearing anything, I heard at least three times you about to reveal your true origin, which would result in the failure of our mission in case it is not obvious enough."

The pink-haired girl looks at him for a moment, and then turns her head to the side, not wanting to look at him.

Aristidis sees her frustrated behavior, and decides to approach and sit beside her at the other side next her. "I am not scolding you. I simply want to know why would you ask to do something you obviously would not even fathom to want to, especially when you could just let it be handled using my way to have a better time."

"Because it is yours!" Louise yells upset as she turns to him, catching him off guard. "Whatever important thing that we've been through, problem or not, is ALWAYS handled by YOU."

She looks down at her hands, her frustration a bit lowered now as Aristidis listens to her normally. "Even after having my magic in the most desired state I could ask for, I can still not compare myself to you, even by a tiny bit. Back then at our confrontation with Fouquet, it was obvious I could beat her Golem with no issues if I used that water spell two or three more times, yet you demonstrated once again with one of your many summons just how far above you're by turning it to literal dust in an instant as if nothing special."

She then tightens her hands into fists. "And when her Highness gave us this mission, I thought of it as my chance to show my worth into something that doesn't need magic, which is the very reason I wanted none of your people to do this for us, and yet you were still able to overshadow me by being more knowledgeable at how to properly handle this mission, while showing at the same time how much more inferior my own ideas were in comparison."

Louise turns her head away from him again, saddened. "You're so far above me in every way, that there is nothing left for me to show my importance. I just wanted to prove myself for once." Says the last part quietly and with a lowered head.

Aristidis after hearing her say all that sighs, and places an arm above her shoulders.

"Honey-" He begins, but backs off a bit while raising both hands defensively and with a sweat drop in front of him as soon as she looks at him with an upsetting expression. "Didn't mean it that way this time, I swear."

Louise relaxes, and he places his arm once more on her shoulders.

"Look, as unbelievable as that sounds, I understand how you feel." He tells her, which draws her somewhat surprised attention.

"Yes, I indeed know the feeling." The disguised Storyteller tells her with a nod, before he looks forward while thinking possibly moments from his past. "The feeling of having before you someone you can't compare yourself with. Someone you can't surpass no matter how much power or knowledge you have yourself, because they are just THAT good at what they do. I can't outsmart the siblings Sora and Shiro, and I definitely can't beat Saitama no matter how much I try, as an example."

Louise doesn't know who those are, but can hardly believe that even though her Familiar has total control over everything inside his Tome, he is still not better than some within.

"I was always like: I am the one who can do just as much as THEY can, so why I can't beat those few ones despite that?" He says, and then looks at her with a kind expression. "It was quite the frustrating experience at the beginning for me, I will admit as much. But after some time, along with listening to the words of the wiser ones, I came to the realizion that everyone is good at a specific something, or many specific somethings, and that no matter how good you are at one of those, there is always someone who is or will surpass you at it."

The pink-haired girl frowns at that. "So what, are you telling me to just give up that-"

"Do-ho-on't even joke with that, dear." Aristidis interrupts her somewhat amused and with a dismissive hand as he unhands her, causing her confusion. "What I mean is that you don't have to get frustrated over such fact."

He points a finger close to her chest. "YOU, are already far better than any of your classmates at magic, and with more training you will be able to face entire armies literally on your own."

Louise's eyes widen from shock at the very thought of her being capable of such feat.

Aristidis continues as he retreats his hand. "You cause unnecessary pain to your very soul by trying to force yourself into becoming perfection personified, believing that to be what everyone expects from you. I, and of course princess Henrietta herself, do not expect you to be perfect."

He puts a hand on her shoulder with a kind expression. "Only your very best self. And you, Louise, are doing exceptionally well so far."

The pink-haired girl stays as she is for a moment, looks to the side as she thinks about, and then turns to him again. "You believe I have already proven myself enough, Aristidis?"

"Plentiful I will say." The disguised Storyteller tells her happily with a thumb up, before putting the same hand upon his chest proudly as he removes the other from her shoulder. "Other than your stupendous adaptation to your upgraded magic, along with your willingness to help the people who need you, you have also summoned the greatness that is I, after all, my dear."

Louise sweat drops at the expected arrogance she saw coming at the very end there, but then smiles at having someone recognizing her overall worth.

Maybe she was indeed thinking a bit too much about proving herself than needed. She feels kinda annoyed at the thought she lost her good mood and time over such thing.

Aristidis then raises an upward palm toward her with a somewhat enthusiastic expression. "From now on let me handle the different unimportant situations I am present at in the way I believe best, simply have what I said is expected of you as your main goal, and what you will be? Say it together with me, come on."

Louise looks at him and the expecting palm, and with a brighter smile high-five's him as they say together. "My best self!"

The disguised Storyteller can't help but be very happy with their simultaneous exchange, along with her obviously understanding everything that he told her of course.

As they retreat their hands, the pink-haired girl now appears unsure about something. "So... What now? Do we just leave, or..."

"That would have been greatly inappropriate of us at this point." Aristidis interrupts her with a sidewardly wagging finger. "We will keep on helping them for the time being as we continue with the mission."

He then winks at her. "But worry not, I predicted about this well enough to ensure you will keep on working while not having to deal with all those unmannered customers any longer."

~A Moment Later~Behind The Inn's Counter~

The scene shows Louise, still in her short-skirted dress, wearing now around her neck and half the face a red scarf, similar to Aristidis's who is standing beside her, with Jessica and Scarron standing before them.

"So, yeah... Looks like my sister also has the family's disease in the end." The disguised Storyteller tells them while rubbing the back of his head seemingly awkwardly with a hand. "Should've seen it coming when her irritation tendencies increased to be honest. She will not be able to work as intended while like that."

He places both palms together and before him, and lowers his head in a pleading manner. "Will it be ok for just today to work with me at cleaning the dirty dishes? We promise to leave when the sun rises tomorrow."

"It's all quite alright, my boy, we understand!" The flamboyant owner tells him as he places both hands at Aristidis's own in understanding.

The black-haired coworker nods with a smile. "Yeah. Not like you expected your little sister would catch it as well in the end."

"Thank you both a thousand." The disguised Storyteller says thankful.

Scarron sighs. "Still, it's so bad we lost such a cute, pretty face for the serving. Anyway, Lucy, go change clothes and come back down to prepare for cleaning duty."

"R-Right away." The pink-haired girl replies a bit awkwardly, due to the pretense she is using to get away with this, before turning to move upstairs and change.

Not long after, the scene shows her in a full apron as well, and along with Aristidis cleaning the dirty dishes at the sink, with her doing the simple job of wiping with a piece of cloth whatever Aristidis was washing and giving her, while Jessica was supervising them, and looking at the rest of the workers serving the customers at the tables outside the counter while at it.

"So tell me, Jessica-" The disguised Storyteller begins as he works while drawing her attention. "As I already told, I'll be staying in the big city with my little sister from here on, and I have to know, are there any Nobles that cause trouble for us commoners which I need to be careful of?"

The pink-haired girl almost drops the plate she just finished wiping after hearing that, before immediately turning to him surprised. "You didn't ask her about it all this time together here?!"

"What is this all of a sudden?" The black-haired coworker questions her strange outburst in the matter confused.

"After what happened to our family because of that one Noble, can you blame her?" Aristidis asks her with a raised eyebrow. "We try to be as careful as possible, so we can actually KEEP what we earn by the end of this."

"Ah I see, that's understandable." Jessica says with a hand on her chin as she thinks about.

Louise at the moment is flabbergasted with Aristidis for how easy it is for him to talk his way out, as shown by her little accident not long ago. He merged it into the conversation so well, as if it was meant to be part of it from the beginning!

"There are many as I hear, but we here know one for sure." The black-haired coworker tells them as she lowers the hand from her chin. "His name is Turenne. Aristocrat and tax collector of this area. He comes at times here at the inn to enjoy like any customer, but touches the girls all he wants, never leaves a tip, and no matter how filled the inn is, he will always force our customers out through the guards that protect him."

"And let me guess, he puts heavy taxes to businesses that disobey?" He asks.

"Exactly." She answers.

Aristidis rolls his eyes. "So expected of a move that it is not even surprising." He whispers to himself, as Louise looks obviously frustrated at the nerve that tax collector she just heard about has.

"Hm?" Jessica utters confused due to not hearing him clearly there.

"Just cursing under my breath, pay no mind to that." He says with a dismissive hand, and then looks at her with a somewhat amused expression. "How that Turenne Noble looks exactly? Bet he's a fatso."

"Aren't most of them?" The black-haired coworker jokingly questions. "But yes, you're right about that one. Now as for how he looks exactly-"

Before she can complete that thought, the door to the inn opens, drawing everyone's attention, and along with many bodyguards, with some of them carrying small wooden staffs and others swords, while also dressed in red clothes with berets, a middle-aged and quite the obese man with a cane enters.

The man has brown short hair, a thin, long mustache, and rich green clothing with a red cape behind him, and a really smug smile on his face as he looks around.

As Scarron goes to greet, rather nervous, the said man, the disguised Storyteller and pink-haired girl turn to Jessica.

She nods as she looks at the obese man by the entrance. "Yes, that's the one."

~Immediately At The Same Time Somewhere Else~

"Wait." Kremant says with a raised eyebrow as he appears to be sitting on a couch while in a place of complete darkness and watching the whole thing on a TV, while it currently appears paused, before looking at a paper block that writes Original Script on its back. "That Noble appears to have come in the known inn way sooner than anticipated."

He lowers the script and keeps on watching. "It feels as if the writer was in a hurry when making this one, or simply didn't find this event important enough to waste more of his time with it."

Kremant then tosses casually the script away as he lifts and points a remote control toward his TV. "Anyway, back to the show." Says before pressing the button for the episode to continue.

~Back To The Known Inn And Its Plot~

Aristidis turns to Louise. "Well, isn't that quite the convenience for us, Lucy?"

"Quite." She redponds with a nod.

"Now let us observe for now, and see for when he does his unlawful move so we can begin our understandably justified procedure." He says as they both focus at the Aristocratic Tax Collector, as Jessica looks back and forth at the two, confused at both what he is talking about AND his sudden change in mannerism.

At the moment, Turenne looks around at the filled with customers inn, and while keeping his smug smile, he snaps his fingers which signals some of his bodyguards to bring forward their wooden staffs, which causes the customers' nervousness and frustration as some of them already begin standing up, making obvious the fact that the Noble will force them into leaving if they don't do it themselves.

"Oh how cute, he snaps his fingers too." The disguised Storyteller says a bit amused, before snapping his fingers as well.

Just before anyone barely moves a muscle, a big number of Oblivion Guards come out of nowhere, from the corners and through the main entrance, who move fast close to the Noble and his bodyguards before pointing their swords, spears, bows and arrows at them, and catching everyone by complete surprise as the captain of the said guards yells: "Stop! You violated the law!"

The Oblivion Guards then proceed to quickly disarm and cuff every single one of them with handcuffs, with some of them and Turenne being placed facedown upon the floor as they are cuffed.

"For your crimes against the citizens and this establishment, you're all under arrest." The Captain of the known guards tells them.

"Wh-Who the hell are you!" The obese Noble asks them confused but very upset as the guard forces him up to stand while holding the cuffed hands behind his back. "Actually no! Do you have even the slightest idea of who I am?!"

"We certainly do, mister Turenne, the Tax Collector of this specific area for the princess." Aristidis says while drawing everyone's attention on him as he approaches him along with Louise.

As everyone wonders about him, the two stop at a somewhat close distance to the Noble, and then the disguised Storyteller grabs with a hand both the end of his shirt and beginning of the pants, and pulls upward, causing his commoner clothing off him, revealing the smooth pitch-black skin, the also pitch-black but stary and luxurious cape behind, the big Tome in one hand, and of course the obvious lack of mouth.

Needless to say, everybody, with the Oblivion Guards and Louise as obvious exceptions, was shocked to see such a being before them for the first time, with thoughts varying.

The pitch-black Storyteller bows with his arms extended out to the side. "My name is Aristidis Aristadis O Ellin Tis Ellas."

He then straightens himself up and brings a hand toward Louise to indicate her. "And this is Louise Francoise Le Blanc De La Valliere."

Immediately after saying that, he snaps his fingers, and her clothes magically, and sparkly, change into her academy's school uniform as he retreats his arm, both surprising and amazing the people around them.

The pink-haired Noble sees how her clothes changed, and sweat drops while looking at him with a bored expression. "You can do it to yourself, not even surprised you can do it to others."

Aristidis responds with a short and amused chuckle at that, before turning to face the cuffed Noble again. "And unfortunately for you, we are here on official royal business."

He looks at Louise. "Louise, the parchment, dear."

Louise reaches for one of her pockets, taking, unwrapping, and showing the official document signed and stamped by her Majesty, shocking Turenne and his men.

The pitch-black Storyteller continues. "We received certain reports about unjust Noble movements in the city, and after seeing for ourselves how you attempted to abuse your authority, we can safely say they are quite valid."

"You should be ashamed to call yourself an aristocrat." The serious-looking pink-haired Noble tells to the cuffed Noble.

Turenne sweat drops like crazy, nervous at seeing in how much trouble he is. "W-Wait, wait! M-Maybe we can make deal you and I, yes? Look, I will give you gold. Much of gold! J-Just take the filled pouches from our person for now, look the other way, and I promise even more gold as compensation in return. A good deal, isn't it, good sir and lady?"

"The nerve." Louise quietly says to herself as she tightens one fist, upset at his shameless audacity. That's not how a proper Noble, especially one supposed to work under the princess's orders, should act!

Aristidis extends an expecting hand toward him. "Give me his pouch."

As Louise, and the rest of the commoners, looks at the pitch-black Storyteller surprised, the guard holding the cuffed Noble takes and tosses the Noble's pouch at his hand as asked.

They speculate about him actually accepting the corrupt Noble's offer as he appears to just look at the big, filled pouch in his hand, while the said Noble smiles as he thinks that to be the case. Money buys all, after all. No?

"You really believe you can simply bribe your way out of this, don't you?" Aristidis asks as he looks at him with some glee.

"Eh?" Turenne utters confused.

Louise realizes what he is trying to do, and relaxes as she places the parchment back inside her pocket.

The pitch-black Storyteller continues. "And when it involves someone of my power and exceptionality, no less. Frankly, I would feel a bit insulted if I didn't find the current situation outright humorous." Says the last part with an amused expression.

He then takes a step back and lowers himself down, before placing two fingers from the hand holding the pouch upon the floor. "Let me show you something."

After saying that, he pulls the hand back, while making the part of the floor he was touching to be slided back along as a small square, revealing a hole filled with hot lava there.

Everyone, with Louise as exception who is simply impressed this time at this, looks wide eyed at the lava in the hole, and then all look at the inn's owner Scarron simultaneously.

"I-I have no idea how that got there, I swear!" The flamboyant inn owner tells as he looks really troubled back and forth at them.

Aristidis straightens himself up as he looks at the cuffed Noble, and raises the pouch enough to make it more obvious. "See this pouch filled with gold?"

There is no response as everyone just looks at him.

"This is how much gold in general is worth to me." By saying that, he lets the filled pouch fall inside the lava, quickly burning it as it melts the content within, leaving nothing obvious of its existence in the end.

Everyone watch with eyes wide open, with Turenne being shocked at the being's action.

The pitch-black Storyteller begins as he looks at him with a semi-serious expression. "Always remember that. For I am more than one of your simple minded humans. I am a being which has everything, and lacks in nothing. That means principles too, which you apparently do not possess, like you are supposed to as a man of your work to begin with."

The man still looks at him shocked.

"Better be ready to ask the princess for forgiveness." Aristidis continues while looking at him a bit more closely. "Cause happy about cases like you, she is not."

With a dismissive hand of his, and a raised head full of self-importance, the guards take the cuffed men off the building, and straight on the way to have that talk with the princess.

As the pitch-black Storyteller looks up at the ceiling, he appears quite pleased that moment. "Ahh, I love abusing my power legally."

That causes Louise to sweat drop for a moment, before getting surprised as both the customers and the workers of the inn applaud loudly for the two of them, elated that a very well known thorn in their sides has been taken care of after so long, with the Storyteller bowing about repeatedly as he enjoys the recognition, while the pink-haired Noble smiles awkwardly at both the applauding crowd and her Familiar's current response to it.

Jessica and Scarron approach the duo, the former still with quite the surprised face, and with the latter being overjoyed.

"That was tres bien, simply tres bien!" The flamboyant owner yells as he spins a few times with enthusiasm.

"I knew something was up with you from the beginning, I knew it!" The black-long-haired girl tells to the pitch-black Storyteller, before starting to look at him up and down. "I just didn't expect all... This."

After a small pause, she points at his mouthless area. "How can you speak without-"

"Magic!" Aristidis yells with proud glorifying energy while raising both hands in the air. "Everything is magic! From my entirety, to the lava-filled hole in the floor, to the love and friendship some specific ponies like to believe in."

As he magically closes the lava-hole with a snap of his fingers, everyone looks at him both amazed and confused, especially confused due to the last part with the ponies.

Jessica folds her arms. "So, everything you said before about the two of you was a lie pretty much, huh?"

"I have taken inspiration from a story or two, yes." Aristidis responds with a nod.

"Apologies for our pretense, but it was the most assured way we will receive the proper information about the case with the corrupt Nobles." Louise tell her a bit apologetic.

The black-long-haired girl smiles. "Guess you're not wrong. Thank you for giving that one what he deserved."

She then appears confused. "But wasn't it a bit much to destroy all that gold?"

"To make a point, necessary." Aristidis answers with a proudly raised head, before opening his Tome to grab and magically pull out from within the pages with a hand a large brown and real filled-looking sack. "To consider it as a waste, utterly unnecessary."

After saying that, he hands her the sack, which she is immediately forced to let its base hit the floor due to its surprising weight as she keeps on holding it.

She looks at the pitch-black Noble, surprised he could hold something so heavy with one hand only, then again at it as Scarron moves closer to take a look as well, before opening it to see a shocking sight of shiny golden coins in large amounts within.

"See these as a generous gift for being nice and greatly helpful regarding the previous case, and no refusal is acceptable about it." Aristidis tells the two as he draws their attention again. "I will also have you forgive us, but it is time we leave now that the said matter is over with."

He then steps a bit closer to her, takes and holds her hand close to his face while he lowers his head enough, as he looks at her with a seductive expression. "But I would be more than happy to converse with you some more in the near future, miss Jessica."

"U-Um..." Is all Jessica can say as she sweat drops and unsure of how to properly respond considering everything, with Louise shaking her head while sighing at her Familiar's usual overwhelmingly womanizing behavior.

The pitch-black Storyteller unhands the girl and lifts a finger, his face now neutral. "Leaving the spot empty like that though, after the trouble you went through to fill it with the personnel we were supposed to be no less, is not ideal."

After saying that, he steps to the side to reveal behind where he was standing a very short girl, slightly shorter than even Louise, with long pink hair tied into two drill-like pigtails, with pink eyes, and who is wearing a short-skirted maid outfit with a headdress that looks like pointy, black cat ears. [Faris NyanNyan from Steins:Gate, ready for work.]

As everyone else wonders where did that girl come from, with some chattering quietly about how cute she is, Aristidis turns to the said girl. "Faris, you are to work for the inn till the end of the day. Give me a call after that, and to the Tome you come back."

"If that's what the Storyteller wants, nya." Faris responds with a smile, then turns to Jessica and Scarron, who are still a bit overwhelmed by everything, and bows. "I look forward working with you, nya."

"Oh- G-Glad to have you too, Faris." The black-long-haired girl responds somewhat awkwardly with a bow of her own, as she wonders about the girl's nya.

Aristidis moves fast his head close to the twin-tailed girl, so he can whisper to her. "Remember, while you work here tell her how amazing and great I am, ok, friend?"

"Ok, nya." She responds with a wink.

He puts his cheek onto hers delighted. "I would so kiss you if I could, you cute thing!"

"Oh, also-" The pitch-black Noble says as he remembers something, before stepping back to turn to the inn's customers around them. "Everyone may take one extra bottle of alcoholic beverage. My treat to you for the occasion."

The customers applaud loudly at that, happy for the treat they are to receive thanks to him.

Louise smiles at his generosity. Because in the end, despite being an arrogant, excessive, skirt-chasing person, he is still her great and respectable Noble of a Familiar.

Aristidis turns around and heads toward the exit. "Let us go, Louise."

"Yes." Louise responds with a nod as she follows.

Scarron joyfully waves his raised hand at the pitch-black Noble. "Goodbye, our esteemed Noble! Don't forget to come back and visit us any time you wi~sh!"

Jessica finds her composure, and raises a hand to also wave him goodbye, with both the workers and the customers doing the same. "Thanks again for everything!"

The scene moves to the two as they walk together through the city on their way.

The pink-haired girl was looking very happy. "This is so great! I look forward to seeing how glad the princess will be with us after having found out we uncovered one of those corrupt Nobles."

The pitch-black Storyteller chuckles for a short moment, drawing her attention. "One? Dearie, we have dealt with much more than that so far."

Louise is confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well-" He begins as he is about to explain with glee. "While you were getting prepared at that clothing shop, hours before we officially begin the mission, I made sure to assign a few of my Tome Personnel for the espionage mission as well, and splitting them into appropriate groups, while also giving them each a copy of the princess's order to receive little to no resistance for their actions."

In the meantime, the scene shows a different part in the city, inside an alley to be more specific, where a lanky Noble with a long nose and four of his bodyguards harass a random commoner who is currently seated down against the wall and scared as the said Noble smiles wickedly about.

Then a strange growling draws their attention, as they turn to see down upon the ground a small creature on all four with greenish-teal fur, orange duck-like beak and hind-feet, a long orange beaver-like tail, and dark brown eyes in an unnatural wall-eyed position, making the creature look mindlessly stupid. [Perry The Platypus from Phineas And Ferb, undercover and perfectly disguised.]

The Noble raises an eyebrow, with the rest being just as confused with the strange animal. "A duck-like creature with green fur and weird tail?"

After saying that, the animal stands fast on its hind-feet while adopting a more human-like posture, with its eyes looking normal now and more bold, before taking from behind it with a hand and wearing on its head a brown proper-sized fedora-Hat.

"A duck-like creature with green fur, weird tail and a hat-" The Noble attempts to repeat/correct himself but stops as he looks back at his men quite weirded out. "Seriously, what the hell even is-"

Before he can complete his thought, his four bodyguards straighten a bit more as their faces are locked in sudden unpleasantness in reaction to something, and then fall facedown onto the ground with four short, somewhat fat bird-like creatures with their front body in white, and back and a short tail in black, and orange beaks are revealed upon the fallen mens' backs, being the case of their sudden unconsciousness, before they adopt weird, to the Noble, fighting stances as they look boldly at the now shocked Noble. [Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private mostly known from Madagascar, dangerous and ready for everything.]

"WHA-" Before the Noble can even finish that sentence, the platypus strikes him hard from behind the head with its tail after jumping, knocking him unconscious onto the ground before the penguins.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Skipper says as the four penguins begin high-fiving each other triumphantly. "We showed them."

He then steps forward toward Perry the platypus. "That was a good distraction from you. Good work, Agent P."

The platypus agent salutes Skipper with a hand over the head respectfully.

Everyone then turns to the unconscious men.

"Now time to pack them up to the nearest cart and move out, boys." Skipper tells his team. "We should not let someone like a princess waiting with such things, after all."

They then turn to the civilian who was getting harassed earlier by the Noble, seeing how he is watching at them with extreme confusion and shock.

Skipper starts moving his flippers in a semi-slow circling motion toward the commoner. "You didn't see anything."

The next scene immediately shows a different place in the city, where a middle-aged Japanese man in khaki colored trench coat over a dark brown suit with a matching fedora hat, has without an issue disarmed a corrupt Noble and his men as they are all now with handcuffs upon the ground while he is on top of the said Noble as he brings the copied parchment in front of his face with much of glee, while in the meantime behind him are seen watching him with a hand on his chin a seemingly faceless man dressed in a blue trench coat with a matching fedora hat that has a black stripe, and another man in a brown trench coat with a matching fedora hat that has a light purple stripe, an ink-blotted mask covering his face, and who is currently writing something in what appears to be his journal. [In order, Koichi Zenigata from Lupin The Third, The Question from DC, and Rorschach from the Watchmen, doing their jobs like usual.]

"Read it and weep, you aristocratic rascal! You and your fellows are in SO much trouble!" Zenigata tells to the corrupt Noble as he shows him the parchment before laughing gleefully.

The next scene moves to show one more time a different place in the city, where another corrupt Noble and his men have been cornered with their hands raised by a dashing man pointing a gun at them as he shows in his slightly raised other hand holding a copy of the official parchment, and who is also wearing a proper-looking black suit, while beside him stand ten small beings in simplistic full-body suits in the colors of red, blue, white, black, yellow, orange, pink, purple, lime and green, with visors where the eyes are supposed to be, which don't show much through them, with all of them also wearing black suits, as the two former of the team wield guns as well, while the rest simply point their fingers accusingly at the scared yet confused Noble and his men. [In order again, James Bond from the known James Bond Movies, and ten characters from Among Us, uncovering the true villains like a proper team.]

There is also a broken in half staff down before the feet of the said Noble, which indicates being his magic staff that was shot down by a bullet.

The secret agent begins. "Yes, it is official. And yes, I find them just as weird as you do." Admits at the end due to the obviously out of place beings that is his team.

With that done, the scene cuts back to Aristidis and the surprised Louise.

"I count three extra that are to meet with her Majesty so far." The pitch-black Storyteller gleefully tells her, before turning his sight at a road showing buildings through a pathway as the eye can see. "More teams are out there spying on different Nobles as well, so it will depend on them whether that number increases or not."

The pink-haired Noble is in disbelief, and a bit upset. "I can't believe you! I mean, it is good and all the fact that more corrupt Nobles will receive judgment for their misdeeds, but didn't I tell you before that the mission was to be handled by just US?"

"I agreed into doing the part of the mission we were in on our own only." Aristidis says as he wags his finger toward her seriously. "But never not to involve others in different parts of it."

He then folds his arms. "And I would not just miss the opportunity to remove some of the burden her fairness was definitely going to go through after that. Especially considering the fact of how much of a good friend she is to you."

Louise stays as she is for a moment, and then her face softens before sighing and smiling at him. "You're excessively thoughtful as always, Aristidis."

"Aren't you a cute little flatterer?" Aristidis says delighted as he leans toward her and pinches with both hands her cheeks.

The girl blushes from embarrassment at his act, and slaps his hands off her upset. "I-I said don't do that, you pestering idiot!"

He puts both hands at his cheeks as he keeps on looking at her with delight. "I told you that I can't help it with the cuteness that is you."

Louise growls as she pouts angrily at him for treating her in such an embarrassing to her manner.

"Anyway-" The pitch-black Storyteller begins as his expression softens and straightens himself up. "Question. After we meet up with the princess about our grand success, would you like to use the car again while its still present as it does the round outside of the city's wall, or would you prefer a different way for our return back to the academy."

As the pink-haired girl relaxes, she thinks about it for a moment, but then shakes her head. "Nah, let us take the car like before, I wouldn't like the driver doing all those rounds waiting for us just to dismiss him like that."

She then appears quite intrigued. "Plus, I would really like to see again the amazing speed it showed us before."

Aristidis chuckles at that for a moment. "I knew you will like it."

He turns toward the way for the palace and signs her with a hand to follow. "Come on, let us get going. We are expected, after all." Says before beginning on walking ahead.

"Yes!" Louise responds with a smile just before she goes happily after him.

Some time after the meeting was over with the princess, the scene cuts outside at the city's gate, where Aristidis and Louise are seen walking toward Takumi Fujiwara, who is standing beside the car he brought them with, who was expecting them.

The Japanese man appears a bit awkward as he puts a hand behind his neck. "I know you told me you will need me in the end to take you both back, but I checked, and it looks like the car is out of gas after all those rounds you told me to do."

"First of all-" Aristidis begins before snapping his fingers, causing the car to activate, drawing the driver's surprised attention, indicating that it now has the fuel it needed.

He then looks slightly amused at the Japanese man. "And second, you know very well what song is in order after this, don't you?"

Takumi Fujiwara just looks at him confused for a moment.

The next scene then cuts at the car that is now seen moving at high speed through the dirt-road, with the music Gas Gas Gas by Manuel Caramori playing loudly from its radio, as they are on their way for the academy.

"Doesn't the song has quite the beat?" Aristidis asks her enthusiastically.

"It's so loud and dynamic, yet so great!" Louise responds with almost the same enthusiasm. "I like it!"

"Just you wait till we reach the academy!" He tells her, keeping his enthusiasm high. "After taking care of your car/science curiosity, we will have that party with those pizzas I told you about, watch that movie marathon, and of course who can forget about the ice cream!"

"I can't wait!" She responds incredibly excited about all of that, as the scene moves to show the car keeping on going fast on its way in the horizon as the sun sets.

~Somewhere Outside Of Tristania~During The Night~

The scene shows the city's wall, with everything around calm and all.

Then out of nowhere, a small part of it starts falling appart like sand, as two cloaked figures quickly exit from it, heading for the woods ahead.

After the two reach the place, they get more relaxed as one of them removes the hood, revealing to be Fouquet, the thief who stole from the academy not long ago, having escaped from captivity.

"Thanks again for getting me out, but what is it I am to do from here on exactly?" She asks the other figure, which is too covered by the dark of the night to show the viewers how they look exactly, other than the fact the said dark figure looks obviously like a man.

"Before anything else-" He begins. "I would like it if you could tell me a few things about that pitch-black Noble Aristidis and Familiar to Louise of the Valliere family that I hear about lately, based on your first hand experience with him."

Fouquet looks at him for a moment, and then at the space through the dark woods as she recalls about the said being she got to know. "That being who calls himself Storyteller, is a... Strange one. Other than the pitch-black skin, the lack of mouth and even proper clothing, he holds a magical Tome that can... Bring people out of nowhere." Says while in disbelief of the fact.

She turns to him again. "Literally, out of nowhere. I still remember that one ogre with the weird ears coming walking past us to open the door, as if it was always behind us without my notice. And I bet he did something similar to hit me unconscious behind my head when I was facing him and those three students of the academy. Not to mention he can summon an army as well apparently!" Says at the end especially incredulous about it.

Fouquet finds her composure enough to bring back some of her calmness, but with a sweat drop. "That man always looks so laidback, yet he is so extremely dangerous in actuality. Frankly, he is scary to me."

The man appears to be thinking about the information for a moment with a hand on his chin, before looking at her again. "You believe we can convert him into joining us?"

The green-haired woman utters a short, slightly amused/bitter-like chuckle at that. "I highly doubt it. He has made it clear in more than one occasions that he plans on taking no one's side, and simply enjoy life along with those Noble girls. I bet as long as no one disturbs him, he will do nothing more than that."

"I see." He says as he rubs that chin of his in deeper contemplation. "Still, he seems to be especially following Louise's wishes. The thought might not be entirely correct, but if we can bring her on our side, he will follow as well out of that need to keep her satisfied."

The man still cloaked by the shadows of the trees turns his back as he looks at the trees ahead. "We need to be especially careful with this. Once the time comes and see for myself with what we are dealing with exactly here, I will decide how I should approach the situation. And if this goes like we want, and be able to bring that Storyteller on our side, I can only imagine how smoothly things will move from then on for our cause."

The shadow of a smile can be seen on his hidden face. "I believe the forthcoming war, is as good as ours."

{To Be Continued}