Felix unfortunately couldn't construct very much of the spell framework for the spell Arboro constructed - he constructed the darkness node very easily, and the Yin node slowly, but with a bit of effort. Unfortunately, since the spell was made to target a human, the framework of the "person" had to be constructed out of metal nodes. Not a lot of metal nodes, it was very basic, but still, humans were the metal race, so it had to be metal. In addition, he needed one additional metal node in the interior of the person to act as the starting point of the converter. And while there was an extreme abundance of dark element in his current space, and a decent amount of earth element, that was basically it. So he needed to move to a location with a lot of metal element. And he knew exactly where he would find it.
The Belrose family treasury.
If the Belrose family wasn't the richest family below the level of a dukedom in the kingdom, then they were probably not far off. The amount of precious metals in their treasury was probably enough to make a peasant furious to the point of dying in anger at the mere sight of it.
Still though, Felix had told Scarlet he would be down here a week, and it was kind of a pain to get all the way down to this room. He had been here for four and a half days already, so he took his remaining two and a half days to construct another hex. This time it was Hex: Wither. It slowly sapped the physical stamina of whoever it was cast on.
After his week was up, Felix opened the door to the chamber and there was a maid waiting. She looked very uncomfortable and downcast, and her eyes lit up when Felix appeared.
"I'm assuming Scarlet sent you to pick me up?" Felix asked her, with a slight smile.
"Yes, although, if I can be honest with you Young Master, I quite wish she hadn't. This place gives me the creeps." the maid said, looking around with an expression that was half fear and half disdain.
"What a cheeky maid." Felix said with a laugh. "Come on then, I don't wish to tarry, and I assume you don't either." Felix said, as he walked to the lift. The maid followed behind swiftly, as if she were afraid of being left down here.
Felix pulled the chain to summon the lift, and a couple of moments later, the chains began to rotate, signaling that it had begun it's long descent.
"I'm surprised the lift wasn't here already. Did you have to wait for a long time?" Felix asked the maid.
"The Young Mistress sent me here at the break of dawn, as she wasn't sure when you would wish to leave your training. So I've been waiting here for eight hours already." she said with a displeased expression.
"Since she sent you here for such a task, you must be quite close to Scarlet." Felix remarked.
"Yes, Young Master. I am one of her few personal maids. Nine times out of ten, I personally dress the Young Mistress, I clean her room, and I am frequently called upon by her to pass on her orders to the other slaves, among miscellaneous tasks such as this. The only major task of hers I don't often touch is her cooking, as I could never compare to the chefs. They take great pride in their work, you know." she said, with a hint of pride herself.
"What's your name?" Felix asked her.
"This humble slave isn't worthy of her name being known by the second Young Master." the maid said, bowing her head.
"I insist." Felix said.
"Very well. This unworthy slave's name is Verity." she said, with a curtsy.
"Verity, huh? An appropriate name for a cheeky maid who wears her emotions on her sleeve. It suits you well." Felix commented.
"I'm pleased that you think so, Young Master." Verity said with a smile.
At this point, Felix sat down and began to work on constructing spells again. There was no point in wasting the next two hours it would take until he reached the surface again. It was at this point that he realized he had spent all this time working on hex spells, to the point that he forgot to actually construct the Enslavement spell! Luckily, the darkness element was still fairly thick in his current location, even though it could scarcely hold a candle to the central chamber. Felix was able to construct Enslavement halfway by the time the lift arrived, and he had it eighty percent constructed by the time he returned to the surface. He figured he would be able to complete the spell tonight without much issue.
When he finally stepped out of the stone mausoleum, the sun was still shining brightly overhead. Felix estimated it was about four o' clock in the afternoon. Luckily, due to the many lanterns in the crypt, he didn't suffer from lightburn this time, but it still felt fairly bright. He actually kind of missed being down in the crypt, although Verity looked like she was just released from a prison sentence, as her expression and demeanor turned much more cheerful the instant they stepped into the open air, even though they were still in a graveyard.
"Do you know where Scarlet is now? I actually need to speak to her." Felix asked, turning to Verity.
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Verity looked thoughtful for a moment. "I can't say for certain, but at this hour, the Young Mistress is likely to be relaxing in her room. Probably reading a romance novel." she said with a smile.
"Is that a frequent hobby of hers?" Felix asked.
"Oh yes, absolutely. The Young Mistress always has pink on her brain." Verity said, giggling.
Felix smiled and walked to the manor, with Verity following behind him, and headed to Scarlet's room. He knocked on the door loudly. "Scarlet, I'm back, do you have a moment?" he asked loudly.
A moment later, Scarlet called out "Come in!" from inside. Felix opened the door. He saw Scarlet on the edge of her bed, wearing a red casual dress with her hair loose. He saw the corner of a book hastily shoved underneath a blanket.
Scarlet frowned at him. "You really came to my room just as soon after you got out of that dank old crypt after a week? You smell like staleness and death." she said, wrinkling her nose at him.
Felix looked down at himself. He didn't smell much, but he guessed he probably did. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking." he said.
"Right, you weren't. Now whatever business you have, it can wait until after you've cleaned yourself up. Verity, drag him to the baths and don't let him come back until he's actually clean." Scarlet said, looking displeased.
"Yes, Young Mistress." Verity said with a curtsy. She grabbed Felix's hand and dragged him off to the (not surprisingly) opulent baths of the manor. She followed Felix into the dressing room, and Felix looked at her bewildered.
"Why are you in here with me?" he asked.
Verity looked confused. "What do you mean? It's our job to dress and undress the Masters and Mistresses, and to help wash them. The first Young Master has an entire team of maids who tend to him in the bath." she said.
Felix's eye twitched. "And I assume those maids are all young and beautiful women, right?" he asked.
"Of course. That's completely normal for a Young Master of a noble household, isn't it?" Verity asked him, perplexed.
"Leo is certainly living the high life..." Felix said with a smirk. "Anyway, shoo, I'm more than capable of washing myself, and I'll be many times more comfortable doing so." he said dismissively.
"Eh?!? Am I not good enough for you, Young Master?" Verity said, looking hurt.
"What? That's not the issue at all here!" Felix said, looking bewildered.
Verity thought for a moment. "Ooooh, I get it... so the rumors were true." she said with a blush.
"Eh? Rumors? What rumors?" Felix said, confused.
"Well... The slaves were all surprised to see a second Young Master appear, since we didn't know the circumstances of your arrival... and then we all saw you with the Young Mistress all the time... so... we all naturally assumed you must clearly be the Young Mistress' consort for when she becomes marriageable, but that you really truly love her, and you only have eyes for her, and that's why you've never really looked at any of the female slaves and maids, no matter how pretty we are, and..." Verity rambled on quickly, blushing.
Felix was flabbergasted. "Who is spreading these rumors about me?!?" he asked.
"Ehhh? You know rumors can't be pinpointed to a single person. But of course we slaves love nothing better than to gossip about the love lives of the nobility, so... this result was natural." Verity said. "And well, you did turn down having me wash you, so... I mean, it's pretty much all but confirmed..." she added, looking away slyly.
Felix's expression darkened again, but he still kicked Verity out and made her wait at the door for him anyway. After a thorough scrubbing, he came out and she was there waiting. "Shall we go see your- pardon, I mean the Young Mistress?" she asked with a smirk.
Felix pinched her cheek, to which she protested in vain. He then walked back to Scarlet's room, but squeaky clean this time. Every maid they passed on the way would blush when they saw him and start whispering to each other hurriedly when they thought he had left earshot. Felix rolled his eyes and knocked on Scarlet's door. "Scarlet, I'm back, and I smell much less like the inside of a crypt!" he called out loudly.
"Come in!" Scarlet called out from inside her room.
Felix walked inside of her room. Scarlet had a plate of rice-based candied sweets and some tea, and was relaxing in a chair.
"Much better." she said, looking Felix up and down, with a pleased expression. "Now what do you need?" she asked him, looking at him while nibbling one of her snacks casually.
"I need to enter the Treasury. I don't need money or anything, I just need a particularly strong environment for cultivating the metal element." Felix said.
"Metal? Aren't you an earth and darkness mage? I thought that was the whole reason you wanted to hang out in the bottom of the crypts." she asked, looking at him curiously.
"I am, but I'm working on a very special spell, and unfortunately, since I don't have a metal elemental affinity, I need an environment very rich in the metal element to complete it in any reasonable amount of time." Felix explained.
"I see. Well then, you'll actually need to seek out big brother. Grandpa is out on business, so big brother is the only one with the power to access the Treasury at the moment, since grandpa hasn't finished your household seal yet, and I won't get mine until my coming of age ceremony." Scarlet said.
"All right. Do you know where Leo is right now?" Felix asked.
"Not exactly, but usually he's either somewhere plotting something sneakily, or he's doing something perverted. So you'll have to contact him through one of his slaves." Scarlet said, rolling her eyes.
"Something perverted?" Felix asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Hmph, that lecher. He has eyes everywhere in the entire city. And let me tell you, he doesn't use those eyes for anything good. I've caught him scrying on young women all over the city several times! I don't think there's a single maiden in the entire city who he hasn't defiled in their bath with his eyes! His brain definitely got taken over by his groin years ago!" Scarlet said annoyedly.
"I suppose I'll have to go find one of his slaves then." Felix said with a smile, as he stood up. Scarlet waved him off, and he left her room, where Verity was waiting outside the door for him.
"I need to find one of Leo's slaves to contact him. Who should I talk to and where?" he asked her.
"Oh, that? You should find Prudence, she's the Young Master's personal favorite." Verity said with a grin.
"Isn't she that girl that knows light healing magic?" Felix asked.
"Why do you think the first Young Master likes her so much?" Verity asked Felix suggestively. Felix looked confused. "It's because they do...extreme stuff together that she has to heal." she said with a blush.
Felix held his forehead exasperatedly. "Just... take me to her please."
"As you wish!" she said with a giggle and a curtsy, and she led Felix away from Scarlet's room.