“Will? Wake up, it’s already morning.”
While I was teetering on the edge of dreamland, Fina’s voice brought me back to consciousness. Opening my eyes and looking around, everyone was already done preparing for the start of the day, wearing their battle clothes, and raring to go.
“… Am I the last one?”
I asked as I pushed my body off the bed. My arms feel slightly numb for some reason, but it shouldn’t get in the way of normal movements. I quickly changed clothes to ones that were more presentable since the one I had worn since last night was pretty battered after I used [Echoing Thunderclap]. I then took a deep breath and got into the proper mindset to face another day.
“Right! This is the day!”
A smile crept up my face as I stared at the window, showing the townscape that was still covered in the early morning hue, a subtle color between orange and purple.
“Right, Minerva and Hekate, how are those two?”
Remembering our two new members, I turned to ask Fina. She just smiled before pointing to one corner of the room, where the two of them were covering their eyes, peeking right through the gaps between their fingers while blushing madly.
“…”
Did I just change clothes in front of them? I was facing away from them, right? I can’t seem to recall properly. Fortunately, I didn’t take everything off, or else my image in the two’s minds would change into that of an exhibitionist or a pervert.
“A-Ahem… Then, let’s go out and do a random stall for breakfast.”
I cleared my throat awkwardly, attempting to sweep the matter under the rug. The two, along with the other girls, nodded their heads with wide smiles.
Among everyone, only Igni was done with breakfast, as the food we ordered for takeout for her last night had already been passed to her by Ember earlier. However, in her words, “There’s nothing wrong with eating as long as there’s food offered,” and she didn’t hesitate to partake in eating the foods at the stall that we randomly selected.
By the time the girls finished eating, the stall owner was already closing up. He literally used up all his ingredients before the day started! It was a happy event for the stall owner, for sure, since if he could gather enough ingredients before noon, then he could earn double for the day.
After eating, we walked down the familiar road and exited the walls. As usual, we entered the forest while following the animal path. We knew that we were getting close since the sky started warping back to an overcast state, as if the clear morning sky was just a lie.
A few minutes later, we exited the animal path and entered the clearing where the Villa was. There, standing at the edge of the porch, Vendetta was looking up at the overcast sky, her expression unknown since she was still wearing her wide-brim hat but exuding an inexplicable sense of loneliness.
“Hmmm? Again, you’re early.”
Noticing our approach, she turned to us and smiled. Her lips were looking slightly pale, however.
“Are you okay?”
I asked, just in case, but she only chuckled lightly in response.
“It’s nothing worth mentioning. Rather, it looks like you found a Psychic type already.”
She smiled sweetly, staring at Minerva, who was at the very back of the group, together with Hekate. Her purple eyes swayed slightly as she turned to the two, but she quickly turned around and walked into the manor, calling for us to follow along.
I was wondering where we would be going, but it turns out we were being led to the living room. The kids were nowhere to be found, though, and I could feel their presence on the floor above, staying still. Are they all still asleep?
As I was staring up at the ceiling of the living room, Vendetta moved to the side of the fireplace and touched the brick walls. As soon as she did, the wall magically split open, revealing a narrow set of stairs leading downward.
“This way, follow me.”
She smiled thinly before going in.
Although it’s slightly weird to still doubt her intentions, walking down a dark pathway was still something that would earn us wariness. I turned to the girls and nodded my head, letting them know that we should be prepared for anything that could happen.
Slowly, we followed behind Vendetta. I was thinking about what formation to go with as I went forward, but it seemed like it wasn’t really needed.
The stairs were pretty short, and we reached the end in just a few seconds. I guess we only went down about a floor’s worth? I was expecting to go deep, like about ten floors underground, given the shadiness that this vampire was exuding.
“Let me open the door first. Please wait.”
At the end of the stairs, she was standing before a normal-looking door. She was holding the knob but was casting skills one after another, breaking what looked like several layers of a barrier as she continued.
After a minute passed, the door finally opened. Without wasting another second, Vendetta went ahead and entered. As we soon followed, the scene before us made us completely speechless.
“This is… A pocket dimension?”
The “room” we entered was so wide, it could actually fit two or three of the entire villa outside without problems. In that wide room, the only sources of light were the hanging chandeliers near the ceiling, about five meters high.
“Welcome to my workshop.”
Vendetta declared as she took off her hat, smiling suggestively.
We could tell it was really a workshop at a glance, given the myriads of tools and machines scattered around, their purposes unknown. As we looked around, I quickly noticed the gigantic magic circle spread in the middle of the room, cleared of any obstructions.
“That pattern…”
It looked extremely familiar, as if it was something I was used to seeing all the time. After a bit of thinking, I recalled where I had seen it before. It was the book I was reading regarding time travel and stuff.
At first, I thought they were completely identical, but as I scanned the drawings closer, they were slightly different. The one that was explained in the book was supposed to be drawn using rare metals ground into power, but this one was drawn using paint… Or something that looked like it.
“… Leader, this is blood.”
Fang, who had a pretty sharp sense of smell, quickly picked up on the material that was used to draw the entire magic circle. I, too, noticed it already, seeing the hue and thickness of it. Rather, it seems like it had been drawn pretty recently.
“…”
I turned to Vendetta and gazed at her weirdly pale lips. Then back to the drawing on the floor.
“You used your own blood for this…?”
That was the only thing I could think of.
However, given the scale of the drawing, which spans about ten meters in diameter, the amount of blood used would be astounding. It’s an amount a single person wouldn’t be able to provide.
“… Don’t tell me!”
“Yes.”
Before I could speak, Vendetta nodded her head, as if anticipating what I was about to say.
“To thank you for fixing their bodies, the kids volunteered their own blood to make this magic circle. Right now, they’re sleeping on the second floor, probably for a few more hours.”
“…”
I literally went speechless. D*mn it! I wish to punch myself for thinking of something so abominable a few seconds ago. I guess doubting someone too much would lead to wild imaginations.
“So this entire array was drawn using your and the children’s blood, which they volunteered to offer?”
Ember clarified, her gaze filled with a mix of worry and appreciation. The others were basically the same but felt more apologetic. Those kids really were angels.
Vendetta just smiled without answering, as usual, before turning to face me with a curious gaze.
“Now… Where shall we begin?”
After the short silence, Vendetta asked, tilting her head as she glanced around. Her eyes locked onto the pedestal set on the edge of the array, and her eyes narrowed slightly.
“Right, let’s start with the time anchor.”
She muttered, extending her hand to me as if waiting for the object I would use.
I quickly opened my [Spatial Storage] and pulled out a fragment of a blackish-purple crystal. I held it in my hand and placed it against the light from the chandelier, gazing at its pretty and nostalgic color.
“… Fatima…”
I quickly shook my head, removing idle thoughts, before passing the item to her. As soon as I did, the crystal dropped to her palm… And went through.
“…!”
The two of us were surprised. Me because I forgot that even the dwarves, or the girls, were unable to touch it, and Vendetta probably from the fact that it slipped right through her palm.
In a quick action, she lowered her hand and “caught” the fragment before sighing in relief.
“That was close. I thought it would fall to the ground and shatter.”
She smiled lightly, playing with the fragment just as I did, inspecting it from all angles and ignoring my confused gaze. After a few moments, she nodded her head firmly.
“Alright. I can feel a strong presence of a certain time period in it. We can use this.”