A long walk back to the tavern later, Zeldris and Estarossa finally made it back from the prison. Zeldris had told his brother all about their current situation. Who they've fought, who Elizabeth was and her mission, that Melascula found. The last one particularly grabbed Estarossa's interest. "And this is the Vampire's Blood! Built from the ground up by me!" Zeldris introduced, clearly proud of his establishment. "I'm impressed...where's the secret stash?" Estarossa asked with an ominous grin. Zeldris rolled his eyes.
"Brother, you know I don't drink that stuff anymore and I certainly wouldn't want to keep a whole batch to myself." Zeldris told, wanting to establish himself as a mature and sober manager. "Oh, okay. Well, let me ask a better question. Do you have a secret cookie stash?" Estarossa muttered. Zeldris immediately blushes intensely, he knew exactly what Estarossa was teasing him for. What started as inadvertently eating an entire plate of chocolate chip cookies turned into an in joke between the Ten Commandments. The whole thing was the reason why Zeldris didn't drink booze anymore. "Hey! I thought you promised not to bring that up again!" Zeldris cried. "I said I wouldn't bring it up anymore for that entire year because I lost that bet with you. That year passed ten years ago, but that's the way the cookie crumbles." Estarossa joked. "Dang it, brother..." Zeldris groaned. He loved his brother dearly...but his sense of humor will be his downfall one day.
Zeldris then opened the door and led his brother inside. "Mela! You here?" He called out. Melascula slowly flew the down the stairs, now clothed with one of Zeldris' maid outfits. "I'm here, Captain and Lady Elizabeth is okay!" She explained. Her expression, despite her usual benign smile, showed tired she really was but all her drowsiness immediately evaporated when she saw Estarossa. "Esta...rossa?"
Estarossa's eyebrows rose in anticipation when he saw her as well. "Hey, Mela!" He said with a smooth smirk. He puffed out his chest and stroke his forming beard, asserting his size as he leaned down a little to see her face to face. On par with her visual appeal, the black eye she received had caught Estarossa's interest. "Quite a shiner you got there. Finally show someone who tough you are?" He asked, tapping her forehead slightly. Melascula's entire face turned red with her timidity overpowering her thinking processes. Zeldris, however, looked to the side with a slight smile. "Good grief, get a room..." He muttered to himself.
"W...W...Well...C...Captain...did b...beat me...pretty badly..." Melascula stuttered, putting her hands behind her back as she was unaware how she made that sentence sound to her comrade. Estarossa turned to Zeldris, his eyes gleaming with fury with the rest of his face remaining collected. "What?" He said simply, however it was honestly terrifying to the other two. He suddenly started giving chase to his older brother, wanting a clear answer. Zeldris, knowing this was going to get nasty, immediately began running in response. The two were going around and around the tavern with Melascula only able to watch in worry. "Wait! I didn't explain clearly! It was all due to hypnosis, I swear!" Melascula assured, waving her hands forward to try and calm him down. "You know I'd never hurt someone on my team, come on!" Zeldris added, struggling to escape his brother's grasp. With that, Estarossa cut the chase, relieving Zeldris of that threat of a beating to avenge Melascula's face. Zeldris sighed in relief before hearing a soft "Sir Zeldris?" from upstairs. Elizabeth was resting peacefully upstairs, hearing the commotion form below. Zeldris didn't say anything else as he immediately started heading upstairs with his two teammates following. Zeldris knocked on the door lightly before entering.
His face shuddered at the sight of the physically broken Elizabeth. Although he was relieved that she was alive, it pained him to see her in such a state. Still, he didn't want her to worry about him so he smiled softly as he stepped in. "Lady Elizabeth, I'm glad to see you're okay." He said benignly but was surprised when Elizabeth then told "...I'm sorry, Sir Zeldris." "For what?" He responded, stepping closer to the bed. What did Elizabeth of all people have to apologize for? Melascula and Estarossa stayed near the door, letting the two talk. "You gave me an order to stay behind, to only step out for groceries...but I didn't and stepped near the battle. I'm very sorry for disobeying." She explained. Her voice was soft, tired and swimming with remorse, only making Zeldris' heart ache with sympathy even more. Her seemingly endless compassion, even from the start, had made him care about her dearly. Elizabeth closed her eyes, almost beginning to cry until she felt a hand lay itself on her forehead. She opened them to see him standing by her.
"Yes, it's true. I did tell you to stay by, only because I care about your safety. However, look at it this way. If it weren't for you and your bravery, me and Melascula would've been trapped in our hypnotized state and things could've ended worse for us. You stepped up to do the right thing for the right reasons and I'm proud of you. Consider yourself our hero today." He explained, trying to lift up her spirits. Elizabeth never felt brighter, more honored. Her heart replaced the guilt with a proud and more content passion. "Awww..." Melascula murmured to herself, not being able to help her gushing joy. Estarossa, in contrast, simply smirked in a respecting way as he then stepped into the room. The same soft spot he rarely gives out. "Oh my! Is this..." Elizabeth started before Estarossa bowed surprisingly eloquently. "Estarossa of Love, your highness. Sir Zeldris over there told me all about you." Zeldris saw Estarossa's eyes, his expression was something that he hadn't seen in a very long time. It seemed Estarossa had quickly developed a soft spot for the Princess. "He has?" Elizabeth said, slightly blushing.
"Definitely. Told me we're getting the Ten Commandments back to get together to take the Holy Knights crown a peg for you and the royal family and I love to serve." Estarossa explained, smiling broadly. Zeldris' eyelids sunk from just listening to his brother making jokes in front of the princess. He stepped forward to stop the show before stopping himself when Elizabeth suddenly giggled. They were terrible puns...but she couldn't help but find them funny. Estarossa looked to his brother before back to the girl, standing up to continue. "I can see you're loving this. No need to command this commandment to continue, I'd probably do it anyway." He continued on, keeping his bold and sharp tone.
All of it only continued to lighten Elizabeth's mood with her giggles getting louder. On he went, making one pun after another. Zeldris, however, couldn't take it anymore as he then slowly began making his way to the door to at least have someone to talk to. "How long do you think he's gonna last?" Zeldris asked Melascula, turning back to his eccentric brother. "Well...I think it's fine. He's probably been holding all that in during his time in Baste Prison." She stated, putting her finger to her chin as she wondered what it was like for him in the prison cell. Zeldris was mortified as he realized Melascula was right. Ten years to think of new jokes that would probably last until the end of this current one.
"Hey, Captain?" Melascula prompted, getting a little closer to him. "Yes?" Zeldris simply replied, a little shocked to see Melascula of all people getting up close. "I'm a little worried about you. I heard it in your voice when we found Elizabeth injured. You were getting close to snapping. You ran out of Grayroad's pills, didn't you?" Melascula asked, putting her hand gently on his shoulder. Zeldris froze a little. She was right. Seeing Elizabeth so brutalized had freaked him out, nearly setting him off... "I...Yes...but I managed to keep it under control.".
Melascula didn't really seem to believe it much but she still trusted Zeldris. "A-Alright but if you ever feel like you can't, we need to find her as soon as possible, okay? I know how you feel about..."
Zeldris lightly patted Melascula on the head, smiling reassuringly. "I appreciate it, Mela. I really do but I've been working on keeping it together for the last few years, even with the pills or not." He explained. Melascula lightly blushed at the platonic affection but kept speaking. "I know, I've noticed you didn't show any negative signs during the fight with Gilthunder but...I do fear one bad instance like today could set you off."
Zeldris looked to the side, his heart pounding a little. He wanted to pass her thoughts off as just silly but he couldn't utter a single word. He too was afraid of getting angry beyond comprehension. Melascula realized what she may done. "I'm...I'm sorry, Captain..." She said. "It's okay. I'm just...not wanting to think about earlier anymore for today." Zeldris replied, closing his eyes. He was incredibly tired. "So, what should we do now since Estarossa's back safe and sound?" Melascula asked, trying to change the subject.
"Oh...Hm. Well, the best course of action now is going out to find out what's causing this Gloxinia and Drole rumor. If they're truly dead, I want to know how and where." He answered. "Very well! Oh, I truly hope they're okay..." Melascula replied, moving her finger up to her mouth with her mind fearing the worst with the rumor explained to her earlier. "Holy Knights being able to take out someone as strong as Drole or as capable with magic as Gloxinia so easily? I'm not buying it. Where to look for them, however, is the main question." Zeldris said, leaving Melascula to ponder. She took into account the two's personalities and the possibilities of where they would hide in their current circumstances as an idea finally hits.
"Oh! Drole's just about as tall as a fourth of the average sizes of mountains so hiding would be limited. Gloxinia loves to be in the forest so that would make it the most possible place for him to be. So how about marking out mountains on the map with surrounding forests to just start out?" Melascula proposed. "That'll work! Thanks!" Zeldris replied, then moving past Melascula to go mark up certain areas on the map like she had said. "No problem...Uh?" Melascula started before feeling slight tickles underneath her ear. Estarossa was the culprit. Melascula's face turned deep red. "...Lastly, while she was drunk, she was off floating all over the place with her barrel. I had to tickle her under the ear to get her attention." Estarossa was on his second story with his time with the commandments, the one currently about the time all of them got drunk on night. "Ah! Are you telling her that story?!" Melascula bursted.
Listening to Mela's flustered pleads for Estarossa to stop with Elizabeth trying to cheer her on from the sidelines, Zeldris took the time to just go ahead and get busy. He stepped downstairs to the bottom floor, then stepping up to the map. Things were going actually well! Now then, a new mission began: To find Gloxinia of Repose and Drole of Patience!
It was a long night. Zeldris had finally finished his geographical mapping and was going to help guide Nebbie in the morning but the silence around him in the tavern was barely broken with an "Eep..." from Melascula upstairs. "Mela?" He then called out. He lightly stepped up the stairs, only for him to realize exactly what was going on when he saw the confused Elizabeth and the flustered Faith standing there by the door. Estarossa had inadvertently found himself in their room and decided to mess with Melascula a little, not noticing Elizabeth behind her. "So what do you say, Mela? We share a room together?" He flirted, laying down on the bed with a certain smirk to go with his carefree posture. "Uh, well...I..." Melascula stammered before Zeldris lightly tapped her shoulder. "Excuse me." Zeldris said softly to her. Melascula allowed him to move by, unknowing what Zeldris was about to do. In contrast, Estarossa knew what was coming.
BONK! A simple bash on the head and then a grab to the ears was enough to put his younger brother in Zeldris' grasp. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" He exclaimed, squirming around to get away from the insufferable ear tugs but it was futile as Zeldris dragged him by hand out of the bedroom. "Goodnight, ladies." He said. "Um...G-Good night, Sir Zeldris. You too, Sir Estarossa!" Elizabeth called out. "Hope Captain didn't hit him too hard..." Melascula added, her blush dying down. "Oh, Melascula? Are you okay? You seemed awfully restless." Elizabeth asked as the two went into the room. "Oh, yes. It's just that...I...I was surprised to see Estarossa in here, that's all." Melascula stuttered. "Oh, alright then." Elizabeth said, knowing Melascula was hiding the actual truth.